How Do We Measure Plots?

Plot sizes are measured in rods, an old Anglo-Saxon unit so-called because it was the length of the rod used to control a team of oxen. A rod is 5.5 yards (5.03metres).

There are 4 rods in a chain, that is 22 yards (20.12 metres)  There are 10 chains in a furlong and 8 furlongs in a mile. So a mile is 80 x 22 = 1760 yards (1609.3 metres).

An acre is the area of land that could be ploughed in a day, being a furrow long (furlong)  and a chain wide, or 160 square rods, which is 4840 sq yards (4048 sq metres).

A hectare is 10,000 sq metres so an acre is 0.4 of a hectare. Plots sizes are usually 5 rods or 10 rods.

A 10 rod allotment is actually 10 square rods in area, that is 10 x 5.5 x 5.5 = 302.5 sq yards (253 sq metres).

In metric units, a 10 rod allotment is one fortieth of a hectare: in imperial units it is one sixteenth of an acre.