Weights and Measures of the City of Winchester

Text from booklet published by Winchester Museums Service, Author Maurice Stevenson. Copyright Winchester City Council

For a full copy of the illustrated booklet contact Winchester Museums Service, Historic Resources Centre, Hyde Street, Winchester, SO23 7DW Price £1.10

The City of Winchester is fortunate in having in its keeping the oldest surviving set of standard weights, the oldest standard yard measure and a fine collection of other ancient measures and weights. These bear witness to the historic association of the name 'Winchester' with English measures of capacity.

'Winchester Measure'

To trace the origin of the term 'Winchester measure' it is necessary to go back to Anglo-Saxon times when, during the reign of Alfred the Great, Winchester became of increasing importance in the government of the Kingdom and as a centre of trade. In the succeeding reign of Edgar the Peaceful, from AD 959 to AD 975, it was decreed that all measures must agree with the standards kept in Winchester and in London. From that time onwards the bushel, and its parts (peck, gallon etc.) became known as 'Winchester measure' and were used for the measurement of all grains and agricultural produce. As late as 1881 corn rents in England were still being fixed by 'Winchester measure' although this had been superseded by Imperial measure (some 3% larger) by an Act of 1824. In the USA however, the old 'Winchester' bushel continued and survives to the present day.

Another use of the term 'Winchester' is its application to glass vessels of various shapes and sizes found in chemists' shops, also by chemists in the expression 'Winchester quart' to denote half a gallon. Research has failed to find the origin of these uses and it can only be assumed that they evolved from the early relationship between Winchester and measures of capacity generally.

Medieval Controls

Throughout the ages continuous efforts were made to ensure that measures and weights agreed with the national standards and clauses were included in the Magna Carta of 1215 to that effect. In the 14th century during the reign of Edward III, the trade in wool was of great importance. Several laws were passed concerning the units of weight in which it should be sold and the method of weighing. Steelyard, or 'auncel' weighing, was 'wholly put out' in favour of weighing by 'even balance' and the weight of the sack was fixed at 26 stones of 14lb, ie. 364lb. Examples of fourteenth century steelyard weights have been found in Winchester and the surrounding area.

In 1357 it was ordered that certain balances and standard weights be sent to all the Sheriffs of England. These should have included weights for the sack, half-sack and quarter-sack and it has been assumed that the set of Winchester standards which include a quarter-sack (91 Ib) date from 1357. They may in fact, date from 1353 when the town's weigh-beam, or trona, was moved to a new site and administered as part of the wool staple. Fees for weighing increased considerably at that time and support the suggestion that a new set of weights would have been provided when the new staple was set up. These standard weights are embellished with the Royal arms quartering old France, in use from 1340 to 1405, and are impressed with the official stamp of a crown over a Lombardic 'E'. In addition to the quarter-sack the series continues with a 56 lb (half-hundred weight), 28 lb (tod), 14 lb (stone) and a pair of 7 Ib (cloves). Apart from being the earliest set of standard weights in England they are also the oldest example of weights in the avoirdupois or 'heavy goods' series.

Tudor Reforms

Towards the end of the following century Henry VII carried out, amongst many other reforms of central and local government, an assessment of the country's weights and measures. New standards were made according to the old standards remaining in the Treasury and were dispatched c.1497 to 37 county towns and 5 other important cities or ports. From this issue the bronze bushel, gallon and quart, inscribed Henricus Septimus and with Tudor badges of a rose, greyhound and portcullis, are preserved at Winchester.

Unique to Winchester is the hexagonal standard yard a bronze bar with a crowned Lombardic 'h' at one end and a crowned E at the other. The latter was added when an adjustment to the bar was made in Elizabeth's reign, probably in 1571 at a cost of two shillings. By tradition, the yard was based on the length of Henry I's arm and at one time it was believed that the Winchester standard dated from his reign. But, as generations of housewives have known, it is possible to estimate the length of a yard of fabric fairly accurately by holding it out from the nose to the fingertips of an outstretched arm.

Elizabethan Standards

Elizabeth was the next monarch to show concern over the nation's weights and measures and the lack of uniformity. In 1574 she appointed a jury to inquire into all aspects of the subject and on this occasion attention was also given to the troy system of weighing. This was originally based on the weight of the silver penny and consisted of 20 pennyweights to the troy ounce, which was nearly 10% larger than the avoirdupois ounce, although there were only 12 ounces to the troy pound as against 16 in the avoirdupois pound. Troy weight was used for weighing precious metals and drugs and also for bread. Under the ancient Assize of Bread procedure, the weight of loaves sold for a farthing and later a penny was fixed according to the price in each locality of a bushel of wheat. Assizes of Bread were an important feature of English local government from the 12th to the 19th centuries. In Winchester the Assize was carried out weekly by a jury of 12 men and there were fines for non-attendance.

For determining the true size of the new troy standards Elizabeth's jury referred to an ancient pile of troy weights belonging to the Goldsmiths' Company of London. In the case of the avoirdupois standards, the Winchester Edward III set was referred to along with London, Exeter, Norwich and Worcester standards from the Henry VII issue. Even so, the first sets constructed were condemned in 1582 as 'not agreeable to the old standard'. Eventually in 1588 satisfactory sets were ready for distribution to 57 towns and cities, those for Winchester being dispatched to Thome Belfyld (Thomas Belfield) the Mayor. The set of 'cup' or 'nesting' weights in the troy series of 256 troy ounces in binary progression down to 1 ounce and the bell shaped weights (56 Ib and 7 Ib) plus the 3 of flat-round shape (8 lb, 2 lb and 1 lb) in the avoirdupois series are from this issue.

After the 1588 successful distribution of standard weights, which incidentally, remained as local standards in most localities right up to 1826, attention was given to measures. New standards were issued from the Exchequer in 1601 and the three Elizabethan ornate bronze measures of gallon, quart and pint are of that date. There is no bushel measure, as in other collections, but as the Winchester bushel of Henry VII is restamped on the rim with crowned E's it was obviously reverified in Elizabeth's reign and found satisfactory for further use. In the case of the Elizabethan standards authorities were charged with their full cost, which depended largely on the weight of metal used. Winchester would, therefore, have avoided having to pay for a new model.

(The booklet at this point continues with the history of the Stuart and 18th century history of the weights and measures of Winchester)

Imperial System Introduced

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the impact of the metric system, introduced at the time of the French revolution, and increasing industrialisation, created a demand for the rationalisation of the traditional English weights and measures. After a series of Parliamentary Commissions the Imperial system was introduced by the Weights and Measures Act of 1824. A set of standard measures of quart, pint and half-pint engraved 'R.G.' and 'Winchester' was accordingly obtained. They were verified by City of London officials and stamped on the top rim with a crowned G for George IV and the dagger from the City arms. The new Imperial measures were approximately midway between the old 'Winchester measure' and 'Ale measure' in size. 'Wine measure', which was some 17% less than Imperial, was abolished in Britain but remained as the legal standard for liquids in the U.S.A.