mile

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In the English-speaking world, 10th – 20th century and the Sudan , 20th century (UN 1966), a unit of distance = 8 furlongs = 5280 feet, approximately 1.609 344 kilometers. Often referred to as the statute mile, from its having been established by a statute of Elizabeth I (“An Acte againste newe Buyldinges,” 35 Elizabeth I. chapter 6, 1592/3) which forbade building within 3 miles of the gates of London, and included a definition of this mile.

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history of the statute mile
old English mile

History of the statute mile

The word “mile” comes from the Latin mille passum, literally “thousand paces,” a unit introduced to Britain by the Roman occupation (57 bce—450 ce). Each passus consisted of five pes, the Roman foot, so the mille passum was 5,000 pes. This distance was also known as a milliarium, literally “milestone.” The mille passum was divided into 8 stadia, each of 625 pes.

The Roman pes was shorter than our foot, and a well-accepted guess at the length of the mille passum in Roman Britain is about 1,479.5 meters, about 90% of a statute mile.

The Saxons seem to have retained a 5,000-foot mile (their mil), but the Saxon foot was even shorter than the Roman one, closer to the size of a real foot. The Saxon mil was probably about 1,257 meters, about 0.78 statute miles.

The question then becomes how the mile grew from 5,000 feet to 5,280 feet. The answer seems to be that the English furlong became confused with the Roman stade. In those days legal proceedings, records and other official documents were kept in Latin. “Mile” in English naturally became “mille” in Latin. The nearest equivalent in Latin to the English “furlong” (660 feet), however, was the “stade” (625 pes). The educated knew that the Roman mille passus contained 8 stadia, and continually translating “furlongs” as stadia planted the idea that a mile contained 8 furlongs, whereas in the past the two units had been used for entirely different purposes and had had no direct relationship. The result was confusion: 5,000-foot miles, 8-furlong miles, and even attempts to redefine the furlong to make 8 of them fit in a 5,000-foot mile. Something had to give. The length of the furlong, the basis of the acre, was not adjustable because the ruling classes' rents and revenues were based upon it, but a modest change in the mile would have no great impact. So Elizabeth I ended the confusion by coming down on the side of the 8-furlong, 5,280-foot mile, in effect abolishing the 5,000-foot mile.

Old English mile

Other miles persisted in England for centuries after the statute mile was defined. The distances between English cities given in guidebooks as late as the 17th century use a mile which is longer than the statute mile, probably around 1.3 statute miles. This mile has been dubbed the old English mile, 14th – 17th century, although it is probably no older than the statute mile.

sources

So that in a measured Mile, there are 320 Poles, or 1760 yards, or 5280 feet, or 63360 inches, or 190080 barly-corns. But the miles commonly accounted from one place to another are more, unlesse within 20 miles round off London.

Henry Phillippes.
The Purchasers Pattern. 2nd ed., corrected and enlarged.
London: Printed for R. & W. Leybourn, for T. Pierrepont..., 1654.
Page 152.

2

In Scotland, 16th century, = 8 (Scottish) furlongs = 320 falls = 5920 feet, about 1.12 English statute mile.

3

In Scotland, before the 16th century, the common mile, 1500 5-foot paces, 7500 feet, about 1.42 statute miles (about 2.29 kilometers).

4

In Ireland, a unit of itinerant distant, = 6720 feet.

“...the Irish perch or pole is 7 yards, and that of England only 5½. Hence 11 Irish miles are equal to 14 English miles.” (Kelly, 1835, page 195)