Bye Bye acre

[jake-the-peg]

Can anyone come up with a good reason for keeping the acre?

At 4,840 square yards (be honest did you actually know that) it isn't even a square number!

Shouldn't we welcome this EU directive with open arms?

[cheries]

Horsey people have always used Acres as a guide to how much land you need per horse ; as a rough guide 1 x horse = 2 acres of land.
I can see several old school farmers (certainly ones that I know) being rather disgruntled at the idea of trying to work out square metre equations.

[naomi24]

Which EU directive? What does it suggest?

(Yes, I did know that).

[Gromit]

At the end of the day, people will always sell land, and as long as they make money they will not really be bothered whether it is called an Acre or half an Hectare.

But, even though an Hectare is a much more sensible and manageable unit, it does have the disadvantage of being foreign so we should all hate it and resist it vehemently.

If we give the EU an inch, they will take a Metre.

[M-A-T-R-I-X]

so what will Acre Lane in Brixton South London be renamed as then?????

[youngmafbog]

Maybe because it has served us well for 700 years and maybe because it is once more meddling unelected beurocrats that determine the rules

[naomi24]

I suppose one reason could be that it's easy to imagine the actual size an acre, or a fraction of an acre, whereas the same area given in square metres means little in the minds eye.

[jake-the-peg]

Sorry - should have supplied a link!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2310257 /European-Union-abolishes-the-British-acre.htm l

Served us well for 700 years?

Are you forgetting the rood? or the rod, pole or perch each of which could be areas as well as lengths and were used in that era?

Given that an acre is 1 chain x 1 furlong both of which are now almost obsolete outside of racing and cricket surely it's time for the acre to go.

Or is it just that anything that comes out of the EU is by definition bad?

[flip_flop]

Slightly off topic, but being a city boy born and bred, I have absolutely no idea how big an acre is - if somebody tried to sell me an acre of land I would not have a clue whether I was being ripped off or not.

[Gromit]

flip_flop

It is how much an Ox can pull plough in a day.

[flip_flop]

Yep, still none the wiser.

How many football pitches could you fit in an acre?

[sp1814]

I'm one of the kids who's lives were completely messed up by the metric system. I was in primary school in the early seventies, and because of this, half my mind thinks imperial, and the other half thinks metric.

I have absolutely no idea what an acre is, because I rarely go into the country (outside London, things smell....funny). It wouldn't bother me whether we kept it or not...but I see no real reason to dump it.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

[rov1200]

Like flip flop I am no wiser. Are to back to a hectare being so many square metres or is it m^2? And is it a nice round figure?

[Gromit]

Well, a football field is 150 feet by 360 feet, or 54,000 square feet.

An acre is 43,560 square feet.

So a football pitch is about 1 and a quarter acres.

[New Judge]

Your answer got me thinking, gromit, as I�ve always thought of an acre as being half a football pitch.

The most �popular� size for a football pitch is 115x75 (yards). This is halfway between the maxima and minima measurements. This equates to 8,625 sq. yards, or 1.78 acres.

[Gromit]

Football Pitch sizes do indeed vary.

Fulham's pitch size is 100x68 (6800 sq.yds)

Arsenals pitch is the biggest 124yds x 83yds (10292 sq.yds), Man Utd second at 116x76 (8816 sq.yds).

[jake-the-peg]

Like I say it's a chain by a furlong - surely everyone can picture that?

Not like that tricky hectare 100m x 100m - how can anybody work with that?

[toss-er]

interesting!
lots of opinions here.

[BertiWooster]

Changing from Acre to hectare doesn't bother me as I cant visualise the area of either .

However there are some measurements , which I prefer in old money , because I can instantly relate .

i.e MPH as opposed to KPH
Gallons '' '' '' Litres

Funnilly enough though , i have no problems with
Inch / CM , feet / Metres .

[jno]

a hectare is about 2 1/2 acres, so that would about feed a slightly fat horse. An acre was just as much as you could plough in a day (a furlong is a furrow-long) with eight oxen, so not a measure that serves much purpose any more.

[buildersmate]

Jake - it IS a square number - it is 220 yards x 220 yards. Now you will know from your earlier comment about the significance of a chain, which at 22 yards, goes some way to explain the origins of this unit of area.