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Scotland
units of dry capacity

Contents

From the 1820's to the end of the 19th century

The 1618 Assize

Before 1618

From the 1820's to the end of the 19th century

For wheat, pease, beans, rye, white salt

For barley, malt, oats, fruit, potatoes

Values calculated from the magnitude of the firlot.

Connor and Simpson.

The Assize of 1618

The 1618 assize was the first to introduce different dry capacity units for wheat and barley. Previously, barley had been sold by counting 2 firlots for every 3 measured. Again, all values have been calculated from the magnitude of the firlot.

In the middle of the 18ᵗʰ century members of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh published values of 2197.3 and 3205.6 cubic inches for the wheat and barley firlots of the 1618 Assize. These values have been widely reproduced in books, but they are too small, because the professors mistakenly calculated the volumes occupied by a given weight of water (the English practice), instead of a given weight of grain, which was the old Scottish practice for units of dry capacity.

For wheat, pease, beans, rye, white salt

For barley, malt, oats, fruit, potatoes

Comparing the 2210 cubic inches of the new legal wheat firlot with the 3020 cubic inches of the new barley firlot, one sees immediately that the proportion is nowhere near the previous 2:3 ratio. This change was totally unacceptable in the marketplace. In practice the public assigned a value of 3080 cubic inches to the barley firlot, which, with an allowance, became 3280 cubic inches, and this is the value at which the barley firlot was usually actually used in the following two centuries.

Before 1618

The following discussion is basically a presentation of the work of Connor and Simpson, who should not, however, be blamed for any errors we have introduced.

First a few factors to bear in mind

• The Scottish dry capacity measures were defined in terms of the volume of the pint, a unit of liquid capacity.
• allowance of 1/16th. was 1/8 larger than the legal unit
• In trading barley it was customary to count 2 measures for every 3 given. In effect, the barley unit was 50% larger than the wheat unit. Capacities in the following tables are for wheat.

circa 1426

Sixteen-pint firlot, about 19.7 liters. A boll of 92 liters.

circa 1497, pint about 77.8 cubic inches

Sometime around this period it became customary to give an additional allowance to those trading in boll-sized amounts. The allowance for the boll was an additional 1/8, based on the capacity of the legal firlot.

circa 1512, pint about 103.7 cubic inches

The increase in the size of the pint was compensated for by changing the number of pints in a firlot. The actual capacity of the firlot did not change.

circa 1555, pint about 103.7 cubic inches

The size of the legal firlot was increased to make it the capacity at which wholesale trading had actually been occurring, the previous customary firlot.

circa 1563, pint about 102.3 cubic inches

Small adjustment due to change in the size of the pint.

circa 1587, pint about 102.3 cubic inches

The size of the legal firlot was increased again to make it the capacity at which wholesale trading had actually been occurring, the previous customary firlot.

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Last revised: 8 May 2006.