What is a Scroop? Understanding the Historical Unit of Measurement

Scroop is a unit of measurement that was used in England and Wales from the 14th to the 16th century. It was defined as a quantity of corn or grain, usually wheat or barley, that could be carried on a horse's back. The exact size of a scroop varied depending on the location and the type of grain being measured, but it was generally equivalent to about 20 bushels or 1 ton.

The term "scroop" is derived from the Old English word "scrop," which means "a sheaf or bundle of grain." Over time, the term came to be used as a unit of measurement, with different regions having their own specific definitions of what constituted a scroop.

Scroop was used to measure the amount of grain that a farmer or merchant had produced or traded, and it was also used as a basis for taxation. The government would assess the value of a person's land or goods in terms of the number of scroops of grain they produced or owned.

Although the use of scroop as a unit of measurement has largely fallen out of use, the term is still found in some historical documents and literature from the period.