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tracyclimber
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

5 years ago

I've visited several stone mines and have often seen their tally system written on the walls. How did this work? I can't understand it - I presume they had special measurements? [img]

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crickleymal
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

5 years ago

I know some of them are multiplication presumably to find square and cubic footage. We came across one in Swan Mine which made no sense for a while.
3 6
2 3

6 9
1 1

7 10

If you think of it as 3ft 6inches or 3.5ft times 2ft 3inches or 2.25 ft. Then you have
2 x 3 ft =6ft. 0.25 ft x 3ft= 9 inches
2ft x 0.5ft = 1 ft 0.5ft x 0.25th = 1 inch (approx)
7ft 10 inches

Which is about right.

Malc.
Rusted and ropey, Dog eared old copy
Vintage and classic or just plain Jurassic
All words to describe me.

buxus
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie

5 years ago

There is an article in Descent issue 233 covering the various types of calculations to be found in Wiltshire stone quarries, which are indeed along the lines of crickleymal's example.
https://www.wildplaces.co.uk/descent-233#/

tracyclimber
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

5 years ago

Thanks, makes more sense

tracyclimber
50.2% (Neutral)
Newbie Topic Starter

5 years ago

Thanks, will look it up