This object is the ‘Malmesbury Yard’, and an associated letter of 1893 from James Ward, County Inspector of Weights and Measures. These items came into the museum in 1978 or soon before. Unfortunately we have no record of how they arrived.
The definition and usage of the Standard Yard can be traced back to at least the Magna Carta in 1215.
The yard was defined as 36 inches, each inch being the length of 3 barleycorns.
King Henry VII, reigning 1485 to 1509, distributed Standard Yards (metal rods) throughout his kingdom.
The ‘Malmesbury Yard’ is a little later than this, dating from 1654.
The total length of the Malmesbury Yard is actually one and a quarter yards, this being one ell (a measure once used in the textile industry). The standard yard is the distance between two blocks protruding from the rod.
The letter details the verification of the Malmesbury Yard against the Wiltshire standard in 1893. The first page is reproduced here.
The following extracts from the letter are particularly notable:
“The Standard Yard and Ell of the Borough of Malmesbury is dated 1654, being the time of the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell.
…
The Standard has been very carefully compared with the Standard Yard No. 2174, verified by the Board of Trade Standards department Feb 11 1891 for the use of the County of Wilts, and the length of the Malmesbury Yard which is between the two shorter pillars is, notwithstanding its extreme antiquity and amount of usage it has undergone, now at the present day within .005in or one two-hundredth part of an inch of the said Standard 2174.
…
the Standard of the Borough of Malmesbury is undoubtedly an instrument of value and too much care cannot be taken in preserving it.
…
I have taken the liberty of enclosing the Standard in a Mahogany case, which may assist in protecting from damage, so interesting and valuable a relic of ancient times”
Read the full transcript
From the Wilts County Council Weights and Measures Office, May 29th 1893
Mr Mayor and Gentlemen
Through your kindness I have been allowed to examine and compare with the modern Standard yard of the County of Wilts, the interesting and ancient Standard measure of length of the Borough of Malmesbury.
I have taken the liberty of enclosing the Standard in a Mahogany case, which may assist in protecting from damage, so interesting and valuable a relic of ancient times, and I beg to bring to your notice the following particulars which may be of interest.
The Standard Yard and Ell of the Borough of Malmesbury is dated 1654, being the time of the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell.
The original and only official verification which appears to have been made of this Standard was made in the City of London.
The Standard has been very carefully compared with the Standard Yard No. 2174, verified by the Board of Trade Standards department Feb 11 1891 for the use of the County of Wilts, and the length of the Malmesbury Yard which is between the two shorter pillars is, notwithstanding its extreme antiquity and amount of usage it has undergone, now at the present day within .005in or one two-hundredth part of an inch of the said Standard 2174.
By Order of Council made the fourth day of February 1879, the amount of error allowed on a Standard Yard, is one hundredth part of an inch. The Malmesbury Standard with its two hundred and thirty-nine years service shows, now, only half the amount of error in excess which is allowed.
The subdivisions of the Standard are not authentic, but have been marked on roughly with a coarse file by some enterprising custodian, and must not be taken as in any way representing measures of length.
The round brass rod Yard in the lid of the case is an exact yard, and by placing it between the pillars on the Malmesbury Standard no appreciable difference can be observed between the length of the two.
The length between the two end pillars of the Malmesbury Standard is forty-five inches, or five quarters of a yard, being the old English or Cloth Ell of the period, a measure which is now obsolete, and of which there is now no legal standard measure of length.
As a curiosity, and as a means of showing how inappreciable is the difference of length in the Standard Yards of 1654 and 1893 the Standard of the Borough of Malmesbury is undoubtedly an instrument of value and too much care cannot be taken in preserving it.
I am
Mr Mayor & Gentlemen,
Yours respectfully
James Ward
County Inspector of Weights and Measures, Swindon, Wilts