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According to OUR WEIGHTS AND MEASURES by H.J. Chaney (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1897) "From the time of Henry III the Statute Book abounds... with Acts providing for uniformity..." He continues later in the book, "The ancient standard of linear measure appears to have been re-established in 1324 by Statute of Edward II which ordained that three barley-corns, round and dry, make an inch, 12 inches a foot, three feet a yard..." "The standard yard of 36 inches (1496) still exists and is probably the same length as the old Saxon yard." Hoiwever I don't see anything in the book about a standard for the mile. It seems that the author tries to avoid any mention of a mile. Perhaps this was because, as the OED says, "Its length has varied considerably at different periods and in different localities." However I have read elsewhere that the British statute mile of 1,760 yards was legalised in 1593. Brian Read On 25 May 2008, at 23:17, Frank Sharman wrote: > But all of these efforts would have been bedevilled by a lack of a > national standard for almost any measure of distance, from the mile > downwards. There was no statutory - and universally applied > definition of a mile until about 1824(?). There is a wealth of > information on such matters in R. D. Connor, The Weights and Measures > of England, HMSO for the Science Museum, 1987 - but it does not seem > to contain anything on how things were measured. There must be, > somewhere, a history of civil engineering which would give information > on such matters. (F M L Thompson's History of Chartered Surveyors > seems not to). > > > > > Frank Sharman > Wolverhampton > 01902 763246