Winchester measure is a set of legal standards of volume instituted in the late 15th century (1495) by King Henry VII of England and in use, with some modifications, until the present day.
In 1588 Queen Elizabeth I, while reforming the English weight system (which, at the time, included no less than three different pounds going by the name "avoirdupois") based the new Exchequer standard on an ancient set of bronze weights found at Winchester and dating to the reign of Edward III.
These incidents have led to the widespread belief that the Winchester units of dry capacity measure, namely, the bushel and its dependent quantities the peck, gallon and quart, must have originated in the time of King Edgar.
Furthermore, all of the units associated with Winchester measure (quarter, bushel, peck, gallon, pottle, quart, pint) have names of French derivation, at least suggestive of Norman origin.
Prior to the Norman Conquest, the following units of capacity measure were used: sester, amber, mitta, coomb, and seam.
One of the earliest documents defining the gallon, bushel and quarter is the Assize of Weights and Measures, also known as the Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris, sometimes attributed to Henry III or Edward I, but nowadays generally listed under Ancient Statutes of Uncertain Date and presumed to be from c. 1250−1305.
[11] The Winchester bushel is first mentioned by name in a statute of 1670 entitled An Act for ascertaining the Measures of Corn and Salt (22 Cha.
In 1836, the United States Department of the Treasury formally adopted the Winchester bushel as the standard for dealing in grain and, defined as 2,150.42 cubic inches, it remains so today.