The measurements given in the tithe apportionments are given in acres, roods and perches (imperial units), and the size of these could vary according to locality. A rough guide to the size of the units is as follows:
- An average football pitch is about 2 acres in size, so 1 acre would be equivalent to half the size of an average football pitch.
- There are usually 4 roods to 1 acre; so 1 rood would be about 1/8 of an average football pitch, or a square with sides of about 35 yards. Confusingly, a rood can be a similar size to a perch, and the terms can be used interchangeably, however in the Warwickshire tithe apportionments roods appear to denote the larger measurement of ¼ of an acre.
- There are usually 40 perches to 1 rood, therefore the perch is a relatively small measurement of about 5 ½ yards. It was often known as a ‘pole’ as its size was based on the length of the stick used to control the oxen when ploughing a field.
Roods and perches can be linear measurements or they can be ‘square,’ i.e. a square with sides of length 1 perch or 1 rood. The measurements used in the Warwickshire tithe apportionments are square measurements, so they describe an area rather than a distance.
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A section of a tithe apportionment, showing the measurements column divided into acres (‘A’), roods (‘R’) and perches (‘P’). |
