Topic: Roods and Perches

[Pink Fingers]

I have finally got the agreement for the virgin plot of land for my new allotment and the agreement says it is either .05 roods or .05 perches depending on how you read it. 

Out of curiosity I been googling to try to find exactly what this is in modern, not agricultural language (acres or square metres) but can't seem to find any conversion tables.  Anyone out there who can help please?

[Tee Gee]

40 rods  = 1 rood

4 roods  = 1 acre

1 acre  = 4840 square yards

Therefore 1 rood = 1210 sq yds

Therefore 1 rod = 30.25 sq yds.

I hope this info helps

[ceres]

Tee Gee, there's a typo - a rod is 30.25 sq yards.

[Tee Gee]

Well spotted Ceres the zero is next to the nine .....my dyslexic typing I'm afraid  :-[

[ceres]

 ;D

[saddad]

So Pink Fingers you have about 600sq yards... or 10 poles/rods a double normal allotment... the typical one is 300sq yards...  :)

[Barnowl]

Saddad, I think you missed the 0 in .05 roods. I make Pink Finger's plot a London half plot or a quarter plot outside London.

.05 roods = 60 sq yard / 540 sq ft

I find this little free program called ESB conversion of use :)
http://www.esbconsult.com/esbcalc/esbunitconv.htm

[saddad]

 :-[ now I remember why I never trained as a maths teacher...  :)

[Plot69]

Saddad, I think you missed the 0 in .05 roods. I make Pink Finger's plot a London half plot or a quarter plot outside London.

Yes, that's what I thought. A perch is the same as a rod which is 5.5 yards. If he does indeed have 0.05 of a perch then he has an area roughly the size of a small paving slab...

Quoting from Wikipedia

Measurement of area or length

Specifically, rood is an Old English unit of area, equal to quarter of an acre, i.e. 10 890 square feet or 1011.7141056 mē (for the international inch) or about 10.1 are. A rectangular area with edges of one furlong and one rod respectively is one rood, as is an area consisting of 40 perches (square rods.) The rood was an important measure in surveying on account of its easy conversion to acres. When referring to areas, rod may be found in old documents and has exactly the same meaning as rood.[1]
It is confusingly called an acre in some ancient contexts.[citation needed]
Rood also refers to a British unit of linear measure between 16.5 and 24 feet. It is related to the German Rute (12.36 to 12.47 feet) and Denmark's rode (12.34 feet)

...So 0.05 of it is similarly small.

Each or my plots is 165'x17' or 311 square yards, a fraction over 10 rods each.

I think there may have been a typo or miscalculation somewhere.

[Pink Fingers]

Thanks to all you maths wizz kids out there. 

I've been down there most of the afternoon moving fruit from the old plot and making a start on digging out all the maize roots, and my back thinks that it is absolutely enormous!  Couple of the regulars were planting onion sets and sowing parsnip and carrot - isn't that a bit early, or should I make that my next job?

Maybe I'll have to take a tape measure with me next time ... watch this space.

[Plot69]

I put a row of carrots in yesterday. They got two chances. I'll be putting a row or two of parsnips in soon as well.