In the 15th century a law was put in place in England to set a standard for measures in all shops and markets, so there would be no arguments about weights and measures.

 

This made it necessary to issue indentures (legal contracts) to confirm that the bushel being collected from the Exchequer at Westminster was genuine.

 

This handwritten indenture on vellum would have accompanied a brass bushel measure bound for Diss Market.

 

The brass bushel, known as a ‘Winchester bushel’, is a unit of measurement for dry volume equal to a cylinder 18.5” (470mm) in diameter and 8” (200mm) high.

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It gets its name from the city of Winchester where the original examples were kept. (It was later renamed the ‘Winchester measure’ and is still in use today.)

 

The bushel was defined in law by a statute of 1696–97, as follows: “... it is hereby declared that every round Bushel with a plain and even Bottom, being Eighteen Inches and a Halfe wide throughout, & Eight Inches deep, shall be esteemed a legal Winchester Bushel according to the Standard in His Majesty's Exchequer.”

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Unfortunately, we do not have the original brass bushel, but we do have a small extract from the indenture:

“This Indenture witnesseth that John Fisher of Westminster in ye county of Middlesex gent for and on behalf of Roger Pepys of Impington... Esquire Owner of the market and toll of the Towne of Disse ... hath had and received at the Court of the Receipt of his Majesty~s...: One measure of brasse conteyning one Bushell: Sized and Sealed by his Majesty~s.”