The quarter ( "one-fourth") was used as the name of several distinct

English units English units were the units of measurement used in England up to 1826 (when they were replaced by Imperial units), which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon and Ancient Roman units of measurement, Roman systems of units. V ...

based on ¼ sizes of some base unit. The "quarter of London" mentioned by ''

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

'' as the national standard measure for

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

, ale, and

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

was ¼ ton or tun. It continued to be used, e.g. to regulate the prices of

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

. This quarter was a unit of 8

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an Imperial unit, imperial and United States customary units, US customary unit of volume, based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel was used mostly for agriculture, agricultural pr ...

s of 8

gallon The gallon is a unit of volume in British imperial units and United States customary units. The imperial gallon (imp gal) is defined as , and is or was used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including Ireland, Canada, Australia ...

s each, understood at the time as a measure of both weight and volume: the grain gallon or half- peck was composed of 76,800 (

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

)

s weight; the ale gallon was composed of the ale filling an equivalent container; and the wine gallon was composed of the wine weighing an equivalent amount to a full gallon of grain.

Length

In measures of

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...

, the quarter (qr.) was ¼ of a

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English units, English unit of length in both the British imperial units, imperial and US United States customary units, customary systems of measurement equalling 3 foot (unit), feet or 36 inches. Sinc ...

, formerly an important measure in the

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...

trade. 3 qr. was a Flemish ell, 4 quarters were a

, 5 qr. was an (English) ell, and 6 qr. was an aune or French ell. Each quarter was made up of 4 nails. Its metric equivalent was formerly reckoned as about 0.228596 m, but the International Yard and Pound Agreement set it as 0.2286 exactly in 1959.

Weight

The modern statutory definition of

Imperial units The imperial system of units, imperial system or imperial units (also known as British Imperial or Exchequer Standards of 1826) is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 and continued to be developed thr ...

, the Weights and Measures Act 1985 as amended by The Units of Measurement Regulations 1994, defines the quarter as a unit of mass equal to 28 pounds. In measures of

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

and

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

at the time of ''

'', the quarter was ton or (originally 500 pounds). By the time of the

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...

copies of the Assize of Weights and Measures, the quarter had changed to 512 lbs. These copies describe the "London quarter" as notionally derived from eight " London bushels" of eight wine gallons of eight pounds of 15 ounces of 20

pennyweight A pennyweight (dwt) is a unit of mass equal to 24 grains, of a troy ounce, of a troy pound, avoirdupois ounce and exactly 1.55517384 grams. It is abbreviated dwt, ''d'' standing for ''denarius'' (an ancient Roman coin), and later ...

s of 32 grains of wheat, taken whole from the middle of an ear;.. the published

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

edition omits the quarter and describes corn gallons instead.. & & The quarter (qr. av. or quartier) came to mean of a

hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial sy ...

: 2

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

or 28 avoirdupois pounds (about 12.7 kg): this is its (only) statutory definition since 1993.

Volume

The Weights and Measures Act 1824 ( 5 Geo. 4. c. 74) declared that, for measures of liquids and unheaped dry volume, a 'quarter' equals eight

s (64 imperial gallons (290.95 L), where a gallon is defined as a volume of water weight ten troy pounds). The term ''pail'' is also used for this unit of dry volume. The 1824 Act delegitimised all previous definitions. The Weights and Measures Act 1985 (as amended) no longer shows the quarter as a unit of volume: an 1825 quarter of wheat would weigh about , substantially more than the 1985 definition. In measures of liquid

volume Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...

at the time of ''

'', the quarter of wine was (originally) ¼ tun: 8 London

s or 64 wine gallons (242.27 L) . The tun was subsequently redefined as 252 gallons, and the quarter was effectively ¼ pipe or butt. The quarter of wine was a gallon larger than a

hogshead A hogshead (abbreviated "hhd", plural "hhds") is a large Barrel (storage), cask of liquid (or, less often, of a food commercial Product (business), product) for manufacturing and sale. It refers to a specified volume, measured in either Imperial ...

: since the wine gallon was considered to be 231 cubic

inch The inch (symbol: in or prime (symbol), ) is a Units of measurement, unit of length in the imperial units, British Imperial and the United States customary units, United States customary System of measurement, systems of measurement. It is eq ...

es, the measure was 242.27 litres. The ale gallon was 282 cubic inches, meaning the quarter of ale was 295.75 litres. Cardarelli also says it can vary from 17 to 30 imperial

s for

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . * . * . & * . * {{Citation , last=Wormell , first=Richard , title=Murby's Graduated Arithmetic, Specially Adapted to the Requirements of the Revised Code , contribution=87. Cloth Measure , contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQJbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA68 , page=68 , publisher=Thomas Murby , location=London , date=1868 . Units of volume Customary units of measurement