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Description: | An incomplete copper alloy two point tag from a surveyor's, or Gunter's, chain, probably of the Post Medieval or Modern period, dating from c. AD 1620 - c. AD 1870.The tag is irregular in plan and rectangular in section, it is flat. The suspension loop at the top of the obejct is broadly circular in plan with a circular perforation, which is slightly off centre, it has a diameter of 7.0mm. The object then tapers in and out to form a broadly oval section below which has a V or chevron shaped cut out forming two pointed teeth with curved outside edges, these point downwards. The tip of the left hand point has been broken and lost, presumed in antiquity.The object measures 39.0 mm in length and has a maximum thickness of 19.8 mm (it is 10.3 mm wide at the top). It has a thickness of 1.5 mm and weighs 3.4 g.The record for a similar object - BUC-EED724 - states that the surveying chain was first recorded by Edmund Gunter in 1579 and the examples such as these would not have pre-dated 1620. The surveying chain was marked at every 10 links by tags or tallies; at 10 links a single pointed tag, at 20 links a double pointed tag and so forth. These chains were based on an ancient measure of the breadth of a furrow or plough strip. A chain composed of 100 links is 66 feet, the exact measure between the stumps of a cricket pitch and it was also used to measure this. The invention of the steel tape in 1867 brought this method of measuring to a gradual close. For other similar examples see KENT-31E9F4, LANCUM-2DAF93, LANCUM-E57545, SUSS-402DE5 and SWYOR-2F7CF1.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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