>Lets not forget chaldrons if we are talking about coal
>Willian in Coasting trade rightly castigated Nef and Hoskins for confusing
>the different actual weights of local measures.
>A London chaldron was 26 cwt
>Newcastle 53 1/2 cwt
>Milford Haven chaldron 2 tons
Hold on a minute! Chaldrons, or chalders, are measures of volume not weight.
Converting them to weight measure is only done today in an attempt to gauge
historical production for comparative purposes. There is an excellent
assessment of the problem of varied coal measures in Hatcher, History of the
British Coal Industry, Vol. 1, Appendix A.
We forget how recently measures (weight, volume, length, area, etc - even
time) were standardised. Measures, as with mining terminology, evolved in a
restricted environment where they worked well whilst they were familiar to
all those using them and it was only as the industry expanded that problems
arose. Then the first move was to define the measure when it was used in any
wider documentation - as with the accounts of the Crown mines in Devon or in
transaction involving payments for ore, metals or coals - were you will find
elaborate definitions.
One of the best I have come across involved two separate definitions for the
corve within the same coal mine in Northumberland dated 1569 -
yearly rent 13L. 6s. 8d.; they may dig 20 'lez chalders' of coal each
working day, the 'chalder' containing 12 'boles', and each 'bolle'
containing 4 or 5 'peckes', commonly called a 'corfe' of the lesser measure;
but if they dig 20 'chalders' of 12 'bolles' each, 9 or 10 'peckes' to the
'bolle', called a 'corfe' of the greater measure, then they are to pay 26L.
13s. 4d. yearly (PRO Cal. Pat. R., Eliz. I, vol. 4, p. 421-2)
You tread the field of weights and measures with extreme care.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 0831 427599
University of Exeter - Department of History
School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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