History of "Chain Links" as unit of measurement

Did you know that since early 17th Century the historic unit of measurement for land surveying was “chain links”? This refers to links on a chain, literally. One chain length was 100 links and converts to just over 20 metres.

This is why there are so many block sizes of strange amounts, for instance, an 809m2 block size with dimensions of 20x40m converts to 100 links x 200 links!

So when you’re trying to make sense of the Historic Survey Plan Image of your property, now you can!