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Trone weight was legally abolished in 1618, in favor of trois or Scottish troy weight. Further, in 1707 the Act of Union made the English weights (avoirdupois and English troy weight) the only legal weight systems throughout the United Kingdom. Yet trone weight continued to be used in Scotland for commodities produced and consumed locally. In the absence of regulation by a central authority, local values persisted and perhaps multiplied.
Writing in 1816, Patrick Kelly observed that “ ...the trone stone and pound are generally denominated by avoirdupois pounds and ounces. The trone pound always contains the same number of ounces avoirdupois, as the [trone] stone contains pounds [avoirdupois].” Kelly’s own data show that the trone weights were sometimes described in Scotch troy weights. After the introduction of imperial measure in 1825, equivalents were often given in imperial ounces or pounds, instead of avoirdupois, but with no alteration in their magnitudes.
A = butter, cheese, butchers’ meat, hay and wool.
“+” means add the commodities that follow to the list.
“−” means remove from the list the commodities that follow.
| Locale | Commodities | trone pound | trone stone | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeenshire | 28 oz. | 2 | ||
| Arbroath | 24 oz. | 2 | ||
| Argyleshire | A + fish and tallow | 24 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Ayrshire | A | 24 avoir. oz. | 24 pounds | 1 |
| Banffshire | A + tallow − butchers’ meat | 24 lbs Scotch troy | 1 | |
| Berwickshire | A − butchers' meat | 23 imp oz | 23 imperial pounds | 2 |
| Brechin | 24 oz | 2 | ||
| Buteshire and Arran | A + mutton, tallow, raw hides, straw & hemp |
24 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Dumbartonshire | A + fish & Scotch lint − hay & wool |
23 oz. avoir. | 23 avoir. lbs or 16 [trone] lbs | 1 |
| Dumfriesshire | A + tallow, raw hides & bark | 24 lbs. | 1 | |
| Edinburghshire | 1 | |||
| Elgin & Forresshire | A + “lint of Scotch product” − butchers’ meat |
21 Scotch troy lbs. | 1 | |
| Fifeshire | A + hides & “other Scotch produce” − butchers’ meat |
20 Scotch troy oz. | 16 Scotch troy lbs. | 1 |
| Forfarshire | ||||
| Haddingtonshire | “home commodities” | 20 Scotch troy lbs. | 1 | |
| Invernesshire | A − hay | 24 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Kincardineshire | A + tallow − hay | 1 | ||
| Kinrossshire | A + rough hides − butchers’ meat | 1 | ||
| Kircudbright Stewartry | “home commodities” | 26 oz. | 16 lbs. | 1, 2 |
| Lanarkshire | A − butchers’ meat & hay | 22½ imp oz | 22 avoir. lbs. | 1, 2 |
| Glasgow: butcher's meat | 22½ oz | 3 | ||
| Glasgow: butter | 22 oz, 7 drams, 1 drop | 3 | ||
| Linlithgowshire | A − hay + rough hides & tallow | 22 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Montrose | 24 oz. | |||
| Nairnshire | A + tallow & “other home commodities” − butchers’ meat & hay |
21 Scotch troy oz. | 21 Scotch troy oz. | 1 |
| Peeblesshire | A + coals, tallow & hides | 23 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Perthshire | cheese, butter, rough tallow | 22 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Renfrewshire | cheese, butter, tallow | 21½ avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Ross & Cromartieshire | butter, cheese, tallow, fish & flax | 21 Scotch troy lbs. | 1 | |
| Roxburghshire & Teviotdale | wool, lint, butter, cheese, tallow, raw hides |
24 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Selkirkshire | A + tallow & raw hides | 23½ imp. ounces | 23½ avoir. lbs. | 1, 2 |
| Stirling & Clackmannanshire | wool, butter, cheese, feathers, rough hides, tallow |
22 lbs 14¾ oz. avoir. | 1 | |
| Sutherlandshire | cheese, butter, tallow, wool | 24 avoir. lbs. | 1 | |
| Wigtonshire | butter, cheese, wool | 26¼ avoir. lbs. | 1 |
1. P[atrick] Kelly.
Metrology.
London: 1816.
2. The Hay and Cattle Measurer.
London: Blackie and Son, 1876.
Page 123.
3. George Buchanan.
Tables for converting the weights and measures hitherto in use in Great Britain into those of the imperial standards established by the recent act of Parliament.
Edinburgh: Fraser and Crawford, 1838.
1
Edinburgh.
Report to Adam Duff, Esq. his Majesty’s Sheriff-Depute of the County of Edinburgh, regarding the Weights and Measures heretofore in use in said County. By James Jardine, Civil-Engineer, Alexander Adie, Optician, and David Murray, Accountant, all in Edinburgh.
…
We found the one Pound Tron to contain nine thousand six hundred and twenty-two Imperial Grains, and sixty-seven one hundreth parts of a grain, or 9622.67. This weight has no legal standing, having been abolished by the statute 1618, but has continued, notwithstanding, to be in constant use for Butter, Cheese, and other commodities.
George Buchanan.
Tables for converting the weights and measures hitherto in use in Great Britain into those of the imperial standards established by the recent act of Parliament.
Edinburgh: Fraser and Crawford, 1838.
Pages 19 and 203.
2
Trone weight, the pound of which contains twenty-two and a half avoirdupois pounds [sic, should be ounces], is used for the sale of butter and cheese made in the county. The stone of this weight contains sixteen of its own pounds, or twenty-two and a half avoirdupois pounds, and is used for weighing hay; though in common practice, an English hundred weight is employed to weigh each truss or bundle, and is counted as five hay stones. - In this mode of weighing, which is sufficiently precise, 100 Scots stones of hay are equal to one ton, or twenty hundred weight; and 90 stones are equivalent to the London load of 18 hundred weight.
In the township of Berwick, the customary hay stone contains 24 English pounds.
Robert Kerr.
General View of the Agriculture of the County of Berwick, with Observations on …
London: Sherwood, Neeley and Jones, 1813.
Page 250.
Allen D.C. Simpson.
Scots “Trone” weight: Preliminary observations on the origins of Scotland's early market weights.
Northern Studies, vol 29, pages 62-81 (1992).
Available online at ssns.org.uk
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