Bronze Age Gold from Wales
Measuring stick
A serrated measuring stick with a nail at one end used for marking out/measuring a roofing slate for trimming. Used at Dinorwig slate quarry.
Roofing slates’ names and sizes were standardized in 1738 when General Hugh Warburton (joint owner of the Penrhyn Estate at the time) devised the famous ‘female nobility’ names for slates of different sizes (measured in inches) (see below). The naming system soon became the industry standard, although the sizes varied slightly from time to time and area to area. Queens 24x40 / 30x18 / 36x26 Empresses 26x16 Princesses 24x14 Duchesses Mawr (Large) 24x12 Duchesses Bach (Small) 22x12 Duchesses Cul (Narrow) 22x11 Countesses Mawr (Broad) 20x12 Countesses Deg (Ten) 20x10 Countesses Bach 18x12 a 10x9 Viscountesses 18x9 Ladis (Ladies) 16x12 Ladis Llydan (Wide Ladies) 16x10 and 16x9 Ladis Dwbl Dwbl Cul (narrow) 16x8 and 14x10 Ladis Bach (Small) 14x12 and 14x8 Ladis Dwbl Cul (Doubles) 12x6 Ladis Single 12x4.5 Ladis Single 10x5 Dampcourse (naw pedair a hanner) 9x4½
In total there are twenty three serration on the measuring stick, measuring 26 inches in total. There are three serrations are two inches apart (at the top end of the measuring stick, closest to the nail), whilst the remaining twenty serrations are one inch apart. This measuring stick is long, therefore could be used to mark and measure ‘Queens’ and large slates. The smallest slate that could be marked/measured with this stick are the ‘Narrow Ladies’ and above (16 inches in length and above).