[Bell Historians] long and short hundreds

[Richard Smith]

Anne Willis wrote:

> One of our archivists has found some bell weights in 'long hundreds' and
> 'short hundreds'. What is the difference in these?

In medieval times, a 108lb hundredweight was the standard
hundred weight (insofar as anything was standard).  As the
modern 112lb hundredweight (a long hundredweight, apparently
also called a London hundredweight) became more common, the
108lb hundredweight was sometimes refered to as a short
hundredweight.  More recently (and particularly in the US),
a 100lb hundredweight has come into use and this is now
referred to as a short hundredweight.

Richard