Scottish units facts for kids

Have you ever wondered how people measured things a long time ago? In Scotland, they used their own special weights and measures for hundreds of years! These were called Scottish or Scots units of measurement.

Even though the official rules changed in 1685 to use English units, people in Scotland kept using their old ways for a long time, sometimes even into the 1900s! The main units were the ell for length, the stone for weight, and the boll and firlot for how much stuff (like grain) you had.

It's believed that David I of Scotland, a king who ruled from 1124 to 1153, first introduced this system. But we don't have clear records until the 1400s. Each town had its own standard measures. These were checked regularly to make sure everyone was using the same sizes. However, there were still some differences from place to place. For example, the units for measuring dry goods slowly got bigger between 1400 and 1700.

The Scottish Parliament officially replaced the length units with English ones in 1685. Then, when Scotland and England joined together in 1707 (the Treaty of Union), all the other Scottish units were officially replaced too. But people still used them locally for many years.

The Weights and Measures Act 1824 brought in the Imperial system (like the modern pound and gallon). This finally stopped the official use of Scottish units in trade. However, some people still used them informally. Scottish settlers even took "Scotch measure" to parts of Ulster in Ireland, where it was used until the mid-1800s.

Measuring Length in Scotland

Long ago, Scots used these units to measure how long things were:

• Scottish inch: This was almost the same as the modern inch (about 2.54 centimeters).
• Foot (Scots: fit): This was 12 Scottish inches, just a tiny bit longer than the English foot (about 30.53 centimeters).
• Yard (Scots: yaird): This was 36 Scottish inches, also slightly longer than the English yard (about 91.59 centimeters). It wasn't used very often.
• Scots ell: This was the main unit for length. It was equal to 37 inches (about 94.13 centimeters).
• Fall (Scots: faw): This was 6 ells, or 222 inches (about 5.65 meters). It was also called a "rod" or "rope."
• Scots mile: This was 320 falls, or 5920 feet (about 1807 meters). This was longer than the English mile (about 1609 meters). Its exact length could change from place to place. By the 1800s, people stopped using it.

Measuring Area in Scotland

Measuring land area in Scotland was a bit complicated! Different systems were used in different places, even if they had the same name. This was because some systems measured how much food the land could produce, not just its physical size.

Area by Size

These units measured the actual physical space:

• Square inch
• Square ell
• Square fall (Scots: faw)
• Scots rood (Scots: ruid)
• Scots acre

Area by Production

In eastern Scotland, people sometimes measured land by how much an ox could plough or how much food the land could grow:

Oxgangs, Edinburgh, a place named after the Scottish unit of land area.

• Oxgang (Scots: damh-imir): This was the amount of land one ox could plough in a year. It was usually around 20 acres.
• Ploughgate (Scots: plougate): This was a larger area, equal to 8 oxgangs.
• Davoch (Scots: dabhach, or dauch): This was the largest unit, equal to 4 ploughgates.

Area by Tax or Rent

In western Scotland, including a region called Galloway, land was measured based on its value for taxes or rent:

• Markland (Scots: merkland, marg-fhearann): This unit varied in size. It was equal to 8 ouncelands.
• Ounceland (Scots: unceland, tir-unga): This was 20 pennylands.
• Pennyland (Scots: peighinn): This was the basic unit. It could be divided into halfpenny-land and farthing-land.
• Quarterland (Scots: ceathramh): This was one-quarter of a Markland, but its size could change.
• Groatland (Scottish Gaelic: còta bàn): This was land valued at a groat, which was a coin worth four pence.

Measuring Volume in Scotland

Volume was measured differently for dry goods (like grain) and liquids.

Dry Volume

The units for dry goods were slightly different depending on what was being measured.

• Chalder (Scots: chauder): This was usually 16 bolls.
• Boll (Scots: bowe, or bole): This was equal to 4 firlots.
• Firlot
• Peck
• Lippie, or forpet

The sizes of these dry volume measurements changed a few times over the years. Kings would sometimes make the units bigger. This meant they could collect more taxes because each unit of grain they received was larger!

Also, the "official" measures set by the king were sometimes different from what people actually used in markets. A "trading" boll might be a bit bigger than the "legal" boll.

Here's what one boll of different goods weighed in 1863:

• Flour: 140 pounds
• Peas or beans: 280 pounds
• Oats: 264 pounds
• Barley: 320 pounds
• Oatmeal: 140 pounds

Fluid Volume

Here are some of the standard liquid measures used in Scotland before 1707:

Measuring Weight in Scotland

Weight was measured using two main systems: "troy measure" (from Lanark) and "tron measure" (from Edinburgh). These were made standard in 1661. In the Troy system, many units had the same names as English Imperial measures.

• drop (Scots: drap)
• ounce (Scots: unce)
• pound (Scots: pund)
• stone (Scots: stane)

Many local areas also had their own ways of weighing things, often using special local weighing stones.

You can also see how much a "boll" weighed in the dry volume section above!

See also

• Units of measurement
• Systems of measurement
• History of measurement
• Scottish coinage
• Scottish pronunciation
• Tron