The Meg to the Mile Continued... Well even though it has only scratched the surface of this complex and fascinating subject  that was a rather long excursion round the numbers. My purpose was just to provide the  background to the table of measures that follow. Because, placed baldly on the page it might  warrant the response of “So what?”. The answer to that question lies in the fact that it would appear that the measures of 5000 years ago still bear a relationship to the system we were  using in this country until very recently, before we went Metric. That would be an amazing  and thought provoking survival.  These thoughts started when I wondered whether the long dimension of 12 ½ MY or 100 M  Hands, used for a unit of perimeter in the stone circles studied by Thom, was used in larger  multiples. Furthermore, since the circumference of the circles went in units of 100 M Hands  perhaps hundreds of some other unit might have been used. Now 100 M Rods equal 680  feet and there are 660 feet in a furlong. An interesting coincidence! Out of all this came the  table below. I hope you find it as interesting as I do.  There are more units that might be worth including with this series which I kept to a  minimum for clarity, they are:-                                Corns Thumbs Hands   Yards Rods     2 hands = 1 M Span       40         8     2     3 hands = 1 M Foot       60       12     3     4 hands = ½ M Yard       80       16     4     6 hands = 1 M Ell       120       24     6     200 hands = 1 M Chain          4000     800 200        25 10 It begins to look as if there is more than one “system” of interrelated subdivisions mixed  together here. Through all of them the M Corn seems to provide a common denominator.  For interest The following list shows all the units of length in terms of feet and inches,  decimals of a foot and, for the infidels, Metres.  M = Megalithic      M Corn = .204” = .017’ = 5.18mm     M Inch = .816” = .068’ = 20.72mm     M Thumb = 1.02” = .085’ = 25.90mm     M Hand   = 4.08” = .340’ = 103.6mm     M Foot = 12.24” = 1.02’ = 310.8mm     M ½ Yard = 16.32” = 1.36’ = 414.4mm     M Cubit   = 20.4” = 1.70’ = 518.0mm     M Ell             = 24.48” = 2.04’ = 621.6mm     M Yard = 32.64” = 2.72’ = 828.8mm     M Fathom = 65.28” = 5.44’ = 1650mm     M Rod = 81.6” = 6.8’   = 2070mm     M Pole   = 163.2” = 13.6’ = 4140mm     M Cord = 408.0” = 34.0’ = 10.36m       M Chain   = 816.0” = 68.0’ = 20.72m       M Furlong   = 8,160.0” = 680’ = 207.2m       M Mile   = 65,280” = 5,440’ = 1.657km     M league   = 195,840” = 16,320’ = 4.970km © Jon Appleton 1987 - 2010 under construction Jon Appleton This site brings together a kaleidoscope of ideas derived from 60 years of enquiry: it shares insights into fields as disparate as:- Archaeology, Landscape alignments, Megaliths, Henges, Prehistoric measurement, Astronomy, Mythology, Calendars of the past and Seasonal celebration. Click here to contact Jon    You can download a copy of this series as a pdf file by click here