Miles and Furlongs and Chains and Links and Springs
Have you ever looked at the distance posts along the railway line from your carriage window or ever studied the measurements painted on a railway bridge? We all know what a mile is – but a chain? There are, as many of you know, 10 chains to a furlong and 8 furlongs to a mile. A chain comes in at 22 yards (66 feet). There are 80 chains in a mile. A square chain equals 484 sq. yards. 10 square chains equal an acre. A chain, as a unit of measurement, owes its provenance to a 17th century actual chain with its integral links: 66 feet (22 yards long): a surveyor’s chain used to establish horizontal distance.
So here we are in the 21st century with our railway journeys defined by a surveyor’s instrument perfected in 1620. Isn’t there something beguiling about that? An almost strangely lateral way of viewing the world through a prism of linear rationality: take a trip on the railway! And here’s a report from 1845 to help us take that trip: the euphony of mathematics and history and toponymy.
The parish of Tarlton to Kemble 31 chains, Thames and Severn Canal Viaduct 1 mile 68 chains, Tarlton to Coates 1 mile 78 chains, Frampton Viaduct 5 miles 54 chains, Frampton to Chalford 5 miles 65 chains, Cowcomb Lane 6 miles 39 chains, [Chalford] Slip Viaduct 6 miles 55 chains, Stroud to Cirencester turnpike 7 miles 5 chains, Chalford to Hampton turnpike 7 miles 34 chains, St Mary’s over Thames & Severn Canal 7 miles 61 chains, Chalford to Toadmore turnpike 8 miles 37 chains, Bourne over Thames & Severn Canal 8 miles 48 chains, Brimscombe to Hampton turnpike 8 miles 72 chains, Bowbridge to Rodborough turnpike 10 miles 41 chains, Capel’s Viaduct 10 miles 60 chains
Thames and Severn Canal 10 miles 68 chains, Stroud to Gloucester turnpike 11 miles 15 chains, Watt’s Viaduct 11 miles 21 chains, Stratford Viaduct 11 miles 31 chains, Paganhill parish 12 miles 4 chains, Cainscross Viaduct 12 miles 10 chains, Cainscross to Randwick parish 12 miles 22 chains, Stroud to Gloucester turnpike 14 miles 16 chains
And all the while as you travel this part of Gloucestershire by train or bike or foot or car, you also pass the genius loci of this place: springs.
Here are just a few of the names that reveal a strange and haunting history:
Toadsmoor Brook, Blanche’s Bank, Baker’s Pool, Frogmarsh Lane, Snakeshole, Puckshole, Derryhay, Tankard’s Spring, Be-Thankful Fountain, Well Hill Spring, Bubblewell, Troublewell, The Bubbler, the Blackgutter, Sweetwater Spring, Millbottom, St. Tabatha’s Well, Ram Pitch Spring, Double Spout …
There is a poetry in the landscape and in the place names of these hills and valleys: just gaze out of the window, and take a trip on the railway.