Rights Holder: Oxfordshire County Council
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CHAIN
Unique ID: BERK-1BB606
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A copper alloy surveyors; measuring tag, or 'Gunter's tag' dating to the post-medieval period. The tag has four prongs and an oval attachment hole in the peak. The surveying chain was first recorded by Edmund Gunter in 1579 and the example shown would not have pre-dated 1620, however it is not a standardly recorded type and therefore may be an early example. 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. 1 Chain of a 100 links is 66 feet, the exact measure between the stumps of a cricket pitch. The invention of the steel tape in 1867 brought this method of measuring to a gradual close.
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Period from: POST MEDIEVAL
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1620
Date to: Circa AD 1800
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Height: 44.45 mm
Width: 37.1 mm
Thickness: 3.1 mm
Weight: 20.2 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 1st September 2014 - Wednesday 12th November 2014
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: 2014.512
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Oxfordshire (County)
District: Vale of White Horse (District)
Parish or ward: Uffington (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU3089
Four figure Latitude: 51.59904935
Four figure longitude: -1.56827059
1:25K map: SU3089
1:10K map: SU38NW
Grid reference source: From a paper map
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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