chaldron
Sign in to saveAlso known as chauldron, chalder
thumb|John Blenkinsop's pioneering locomotive pulling several chaldrons (1813). thumb|Chaldron waggon at Beamish Museum|Beamish. The long brake lever is for control when running down to the [[staith by gravity. Note that the perspective of this photo makes the chaldron seem much larger than it is.]] A chaldron (also chauldron or chalder) was an English measure of dry volume, mostly used for coal; the word itself is an obsolete spelling of cauldron. It was used from the 13th century onwards, nominally until 1963, when it was abolished by the Weights and Measures Act 1963, but in practice until
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thumb|John Blenkinsop's pioneering locomotive pulling several chaldrons (1813). thumb|Chaldron waggon at Beamish Museum|Beamish. The long brake lever is for control when running down to the [[staith by gravity. Note that the perspective of this photo makes the chaldron seem much larger than it is.]] A chaldron (also chauldron or chalder) was an English measure of dry volume, mostly used for coal; the word itself is an obsolete spelling of cauldron. It was used from the 13th century onwards, nominally until 1963, when it was abolished by the Weights and Measures Act 1963, but in practice until the end of 1835, when the Weights and Measures Act 1835 specified that thenceforth coal could only be sold by weight.
==Coal== The chaldron was used as the measure for coal from the 13th century, measuring by volume being much more practical than weighing low-value, high-bulk commodities like coal. It was not standardized, and there were many different regional chaldrons, the two most important being the Newcastle and London chaldrons. The Newcastle chaldron was used to measure all coal shipped from Northumberland and Durham, and the London chaldron became the standard measure for coal in the east and south of England.