Weights and measures: origins of weights and measures in Scotland
Recent research demonstrates that Scotland had defined systems of weights and measures from the 12th century onwards, which were updated at assizes.[1] In 1707 English weights and measures were introduced alongside Scottish weights and measures and in 1824 Imperial weights and measures replaced both Scottish and English weights and measures. The Imperial system remained the standard until it was gradually replaced by the metric system between 1969 and 1995. A few Imperial measures, such as the mile, are still used.
Origins of Scottish measures
In Scotland, as in much of western Europe, weights and measures were based mainly on the Imperial system of measurement, which was used in the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Empire, standard measures diverged in different parts of Europe, so that, by the early middle ages, Scottish measures differed from the measures in England and those in other parts of Europe. From time to time, measures of other countries were acknowledged for use in Scotland in acts of parliament, such as in 1398 when nobles of Flanders and England and crowns of France were permitted for use alongside Lions and half Lions.[2]
Locally weights and measures were regulated mainly by burghs, where the public weighing machine, the tron (from the old French tronel or troneau, meaning ‘balance’), was one of the key places of the burgh. The street where it was situated was often known as the Trongate (‘gate’ meaning ‘street’, from the middle English gate or Old Norse gata), and the tron was often the site of public meetings and punishments, such as the pillory. In Scotland ‘tron weight’ meant weight according to a local standard.
Standards 12th century-1707
From the 12th century onwards, a series of acts of parliament established standards by controlling the sizes of defined measures and their relationships to each other.[3] Burghs held physical standards of these measures.[4] By the 16th century there was a general acceptance that the principal standards were held by four burghs: Edinburgh kept the ‘ell’ for linear measure, Linlithgow the ‘firlot’ for dry measure, Lanark the ‘troy stone’ for weight, and Stirling the ‘pint’ (or ‘joug’) for liquid capacity.[5] This practice was confirmed by an act of parliament in 1618.[6] In 1661 a parliamentary commission reconsidered the standards and subsequently parliament ratified various standards held by the principal burghs.[7]
Orkney and Shetland
Orkney and Shetland developed systems of weights and measures while they were part of Norway and they each retained their own systems when they were ceded to the Scottish Crown in 1472. Land was generally measured in ouncelands and pennylands, while Orkney also had a measure of skatlands. Weights in Orkney were measured in marks, settens and meils (for grain) or marks, spans and lispunds (for butter), and the instruments for measuring were called pundlars. Weights in Shetland were measured in mark, lispunds and barrels (for butter) and quarts, cans and bulls (for oil). Lengths in Shetland were measured in cuttells, ells and shillings (the Shetland ell was different from the Scottish ell).[8]
Standards 1707-1969
The Act of Union introduced English measures into Scotland in 1707, but this meant that both English and Scottish measures were now used, and in practice this resulted in many local variations in weights and measures because there was a lack of access to the new standards.[9] The Weights and Measures Act 1824 replaced all existing Scottish and English legal standards with Imperial standards.[10] Local juries were empanelled in each sheriffdom to determine the relationship of local weights and measures to the Imperial standards and tables were compiled to show the proportions of older measures to Imperial measures. There were still local variations as late as the 1840s, but Scottish weights and measures gradually disappeared.[11]
Metric (SI) system
The usefulness of decimalization in measurement and money had been apparent in European intellectual circles since the late 16th century. In 1790 the French National Assembly enforced a system devised by the French Academy of Sciences, which based measuring units on invariable quantities in nature, and made multiples and divisions of the units decimal. This metric system took its name from the unit for linear measure (the metre) and began to be adopted by many countries throughout the world. In 1960 the system was officially named the Système International d’Unités, or SI for short. The Metric Weights and Measures Act 1864 introduced metric units to the UK.[12] From 1868 onwards attempts were made in parliament to abolish Imperial measure, but it was not until 1969 that a gradual process of phasing out Imperial measures was begun in the UK.[13] Since 1995 most pre-packaged goods have been sold in metric units, and from 1 January 2000 it has been illegal to sell loose products (such as vegetables, fruit, cheese, etc) by pounds, ounces, pints or gallons (with the exception of draught beer, which is still sold in pints).[14]
Trading Standards
Local monitoring and enforcing standards of weights and measures was the responsibility of royal burghs from the 12th century and this was also given to other burghs as they acquired trading rights and markets. During the 19th century this was extended to police burghs and counties. In 1929 most responsibilities were limited to counties and large burghs. In 1973 these were transferred to regional and islands council and in 1994 to unitary councils.
Calculating modern equivalents
Any historian requiring precise modern equivalents should not rely on the tables provided in this Knowledge Base but should instead consult Connor and Simpson Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective as listed in the bibliography. This work explains the level of certainty about each weight or measure and provides detailed information about the surviving examples of standards held in various museums and other collections.
The tables shown in the Knowledge Base for distance and area, dry capacity, liquid capacity and weight are based on Connor and Simpson, but the metric equivalents have been rounded to two decimal points. There is some alternative information about dry capacity in particular, and this has been noted in the relevant tables. The calculations of modern equivalents should therefore be regarded as approximate.
Summary
For the historian, then, the following should be borne in mind:
- Scottish measures (such as the mile, pound, gallon, pint, and ounce) were different from English and other European measures of similar or identical names from early medieval times until the mid-19th century.
- There were local variations in measures even after the standardization of measures in 1426, 1618 and 1824.
- The identification of modern equivalents of Scots measures is complex and tables indicating equivalents should always be viewed as approximate rather than definitive.
Further information on Scots measurements can be found in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language <https://dsl.ac.uk/> [accessed 24 April 2024].
Compilers; SCAN contributors (2000). Editor: Elspeth Reid (2021)
Related Knowledge Base Entries
Weights and Measures: Scottish Distance and Area
Weights and measures: Scottish Dry Capacity
Weights and Measures: Scottish Liquid Capacity
Weights and Measures: Scottish Weight
Trading Standards & Consumer Protection
Bibliography
Buchanan, George, Tables for Converting the Weights and Measures Hitherto in Use in Great Britain…also Abstracts of the Jury Verdicts throughout Scotland in Regard to the Weights and Measures of Each County (Edinburgh: 1829)
Connor, R. D., and A. D. C. Simpson, Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective, ed. by A. D. Morrison-Low (NMSE, 2004)
Gemmill, Elizabeth, and Nicholas Mayhew, Changing values in medieval Scotland: A study of prices, money, weights and measures (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
Levitt, Ian, and T. C. Smout, ‘Some weights and measures in Scotland, 1843’, Scottish Historical Review, 56 (1977), pp. 146-52
Ogilvie, John, The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language, ed. by Charles Annandale (Blackie & Son, 1882)
Simpson, A. D. C., ‘Interpreting Scots measurement terms: a cautionary tale’, in Perspectives on the Older Scottish Tongue ed. by Christian J. Kay and Margaret A. Mackay, (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 139–52.
References
[1] R. D. Connor and A. D. C. Simpson, Weights and Measures in Scotland: A European Perspective, ed. by A. D. Morrison-Low (NMSE, 2004).
[2] Ordinance of gold and silver money made in the time of Robert III, 1398. RPS, 1398/3. <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1398/1> [accessed 12 October 2021].
[3] Assize of James I, The Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 [RPS], ed. by K.M. Brown and others (University of St Andrews, 2007-2021), 1427/3/1. <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1427/3/1> [accessed 12 October 2021].
[4] Concerning all measures and weights, 1555. RPS, A1555/6/21. <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/A1555/6/21> [accessed: 12 October 2021].
[5] Records of the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland, 1295-1779, ed. by J D Marwick and others, 7 vols (Paterson, 1866-1918) vol 1, 2: 4 April 1552, quoted in Connor & Simpson, p.46.
[6] The act regarding the settling of measures and weights, concluded at Edinburgh on 19 February 1618 by the commissioners having power to do the same by act of parliament made on 28 June 1617 RPS, A1617/5/1. <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/A1617/5/1> [accessed 12 October 2021].
[7] Commission and instructions to the justices of peace and constables, 1661. RPS, 1661/1/423. <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1661/1/423>; Ratification for the burgh of Linlithgow, 1661. RPS, 1661/1/283 <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1661/1/283>; Act anent the foot measure, 1663 RPS, 1663/6/81 <http://www.rps.ac.uk/trans/1663/6/81> [all accessed 8 Sep 2021].
[8] Connor & Simpson, Weights and Measures in Scotland, pp.681-715.
[9] Act ratifying Union with England, 1707 (aosp c.7) Article 17.
[10] An act for ascertaining and establishing uniformity of weights and measures, 1824 (5 Geo. IV c.74).
[11] Levitt, Ian, and T. C. Smout, ‘Some Weights and Measures in Scotland, 1843’, Scottish Historical Review, 56 (1977), pp.146-52.
[12] Metric Weights and Measures Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c.117).
[13] Decimal Currency Act 1969 (c.19).
[14] Weights and Measures Act 1985 (c.72); Weights and Measures Act 1985 (Metrication) (Amendment) Order 1994 (S.I. 1994 No. 2866)