Historical Miles in Britain and Ireland
The statute mile (1593) of Elizabeth I was not the only definition of the mile in Britain and Ireland. Perhaps the earliest tables of English linear measures, Arnold's Customs of London (c. 1500) indicates a mile consisted of 8 furlongs, each of 625 feet, for a total of 5000 feet (1666⅔ yards, 0.947 statute miles, 1524 metres): this is the same definition of the mile in terms of feet as used by the Romans. The "old English" mile of medieval and early modern times appears to have measured about 1.3 statute miles (1.9 km). The 17th century cartographer, Robert Morden, had multiple scales on his maps—for example, his map of Hampshire showed two different miles that had a ratio of 1 : 1.23 and his map of Dorset had three scales with a ratio of 1 : 1.23 : 1.41. In both cases, the smallest mile appears to be the statute mile.
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