How much does one furlong length measure in modern terms?
A furlong, which is a measure of distance in Imperial units, is one-eighth of a mile, 220 yards, 660 feet or 201.168 meters. “The furlong (meaning furrow length) was the distance a team of oxen could plow without resting. This was standardized to be exactly 40 rods.” The name furlong comes from the Old English words furh (furrow) and lang (long), and it dates back at least to the ninth century, when it originally referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a plowed open field. They were long because it was hard to turn the oxen that plowed the field in any shorter distance. It’s general use was abolished in the UK in 1985 with the establishment of the Weights and Measures act which did away with a lot of the old traditional measurements. (So why do they still use “stone” in weight?) Distances for thoroughbred horse races in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and the United States are still given in miles and furlongs. hmmmm…interesting!
