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
Monica Furlong Monica Furlong Monica Furlong (17 January 1930 – 14 January 2003) was a British author, journalist, and activist. She was born at Kenton near Harrow, north-west of London and died at Umberleigh in Devon. An obituary called her the Church of England's "most influential and creative layperson of the post-war period." Many of Furlong’s books reflected a deep interest in religion and spirituality. She wrote biographies of John Bunyan, Trappist monk Thomas Merton, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Alan Watts, as well as books covering such diverse topics as the spiritual life of aboriginals, medieval women mystics, and the Church of