Rod Eyot

A rod eyot (also spelled rood eyot or sometimes referred to simply as a rod) is an archaic unit of land area measurement, primarily used in parts of England, particularly in the Fens and surrounding areas. It represents a small, often roughly rectangular, parcel of land.

The term "eyot" (or "ait") denotes a small island, especially one found in a river or lake. The "rod" portion refers to the linear rod, pole, or perch, which was a common unit of length. Therefore, a rod eyot can be conceptually understood as a parcel of land that is one rod in width and a certain length, though the exact length can vary regionally and historically.

Historically, rod eyots were often associated with strips of land adjacent to watercourses, such as dikes or drains in the Fens. They were used for a variety of purposes, including grazing, growing reeds or willows (for thatching or basketry), or as allotments.

The specific size of a rod eyot is not universally fixed. While it relates to the length of a rod (typically 5.5 yards or 16.5 feet), the actual area varied based on local custom and the specific purpose of the land division. Consequently, defining its exact area requires understanding the context and location where the term was used. It is considerably smaller than larger units of land measurement like acres or hectares. The use of rod eyots as a unit of measurement declined with the standardization of land surveying and the introduction of metric units.