Why 142 yards?

[iandbeech]

Boring but driving me nuts - in my neck of the woods there are several "Give way" signs displaying with "in 142 yds"!! Now I don`t believe the distances are that accurate but my rusty brain is trying to remember if it is a modern (ish) equivalent for some old measurement like a furlong for instance!

[iandbeech]

I can understand general distances like 50 or 100 yards etc - its the 142 yards precisely that gets me!!