Ell
Length · Also called: elne, ulna
That is
1.143 m
1 ell (English)
The other way round: 1 km is 874.8906 ells.
- Period: c. 1200 to 1824
- Region: England
- Goods: cloth and linen
Values
| Value | That is | Period | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 1.143 m | c. 1200 to 1824 | cloth and linen · England |
| ScotsApproximate: 37 Scots inches, about 37.2 English inches. | 94.49 cm | to 1685, in use later | cloth · Scotland |
What the unit was used for
The ell was the cloth measure of the English drapery trade, 45 inches sold by the piece, not an alternative yard.
Royal officers called alnagers inspected cloth and sealed it against the statutory ell, which tells you how much money rode on the measure.
The word comes from Old English eln, cognate with Latin ulna, the forearm, so the unit almost certainly began as a forearm or double-forearm span before statute fixed it.
Scotland used a shorter ell of 37 Scots inches, about four fifths of the English one, which mattered greatly in the cross-border cloth trade.
The Weights and Measures Act 1824 abolished it, and it survives only in the proverb about giving an inch and being taken for an ell.
In the system
1 English ell = 45 inches = 1¼ yards = 5 quarters = 20 nails