Furlong in most applications. Five furlongs are about 1.0 kilometre ( is the exact value, according to the international conversion). The name "furlong" derives from the Old English words ' (furrow) and ' (long). Dating back at least to early Anglo-Saxon times, it originally referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a ploughed open field (a medieval communal field which was divided into strips). The furlong (meaning furrow length) was the distance a team of oxen could plough without resting. This was standardised to be exactly 40 rods or 10 chains. The system of long furrows arose
Walter Furlong Walter Furlong Walter Furlong (1 September 1893 – 11 December 1973) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was elected on his second attempt, to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork Borough constituency at the 1944 general election. He lost his Dáil seat at the 1948 general election, and was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1951 general election. Furlong was a member of Cork City Council and served as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1951. According to his death notice Furlong was in "G" Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, Old IRA in 1916,