rhwd sqwar [Welsh]

In Wales, a unit of land area, = 64 square yards. It is based on the 24-foot rod which was the basis of the now-vanished “customary acre” of Northern Powys, and is ¹⁄₁₆₀th of that unit. The 24-foot rod survived for hedging, ditching, walling, and similar activities; the rhwd sqwar survived for potato growing and sod-paring. It is also known as the “Welsh rood,” the “square rood,” and the “digging rood” in neighboring parts of England and as “rhwd o dir” in Wales.

On the evidence of its distribution, Palmer speculates that the unit entered Wales from Cheshire, as part of the spread of agricultural methods that included sod-paring.

Alfred Neobard Palmer.
Notes on ancient Welsh measures of land.
Archaeologia Cambrensis, vol. 13, no. 49 (January 1896).

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