An alternate name for the rod [1] (16.5 feet or 5.0292 meters), introduced in the twelfth century by the Norman conquerors of England. The word perch (perche in French: see below) comes from the Latin pertica (pole). The Romans also had a distance unit called the pertica, but it was shorter: 10 Roman feet (9.71 English feet or 2.96 meters)