Chaldron wagon, Beamish Museum, 17 May 2011

A chaldron (also chauldron or chalder) was an English measure of dry volume, mostly used for coal; the word itself is an obsolete spelling of

cauldron A cauldron (or caldron) is a large pot ( kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. There is a rich history of cauldron lore in religion, mythology, and ...

. It was used from the 13th century onwards, nominally until 1963, when it was abolished by the

Weights and Measures Act A weights and measures act is a kind of legislative act found in many jurisdictions establishing technical standards for weights and measures. Notable acts of this type include: * Various Weights and Measures Acts (UK) or the various legislative ...

1963, but in practice until the end of 1835, when the Weights and Measures Act of that year specified that thenceforth coal could only be sold by weight.

Coal

The chaldron was used as the measure for coal from the 13th century, measuring by volume being much more practical than weighing low-value, high-bulk commodities like coal. It was not standardized, and there were many different regional chaldrons, the two most important being the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and London chaldrons. The Newcastle chaldron was used to measure all coal shipped from

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, and the London chaldron became the standard measure for coal in the east and south of England. Many attempts have been made to calculate the weight of a Newcastle chaldron as used in medieval and early modern times. Coal industry historian John Nef has estimated that in 1421 it weighed , and that its weight was gradually increased by coal traders due to the taxes on coal (which were charged per chaldron) until 1678, when its weight was fixed by law at , later increased in 1694 to . A London chaldron, on the other hand, was defined as "36

bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for agric ...

s heaped up, each bushel to contain a

Winchester bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu.) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity. The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks, or 8 dry gallons, and was used mostly for agric ...

and , and to be in diameter". This approximated a weight in coal of around . The chaldron was the legal limit for horse-drawn coal waggons travelling by road as it was considered that heavier loads would cause too much damage to the roadways. Railways had standard "chauldron waggons" which were about and around high. The value of a chaldron of coal depended on the size of the lumps of coal and also their water content. Unscrupulous merchants would purchase their coal in lumps as large as possible then sell them in smaller sizes. This was abolished by the Weights and Measures Act of 1835, which legislated that from January 1836 coal was only to be sold by weight.

References

;Notes ;Sources Imperial units Coal {{measurement-stub

Coal

See also

References