One chain is exactly 66 feet. This is Gunter's chain, the surveyor's chain of 100 links introduced by Edmund Gunter in the 1620s, with each link 7.92 inches long. Multiply chains by 66 to get feet. You need this conversion to read old deeds, survey plats and field notes in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, which often give boundaries in chains and links.
Formula
Chains to Feet conversion table
| Chains | Feet |
|---|---|
| 0.25 ch | 16.5 ft |
| 0.5 ch | 33 ft |
| 1 ch | 66 ft |
| 2 ch | 132 ft |
| 3 ch | 198 ft |
| 4 ch | 264 ft |
| 5 ch | 330 ft |
| 6 ch | 396 ft |
| 7 ch | 462 ft |
| 8 ch | 528 ft |
| 9 ch | 594 ft |
| 10 ch | 660 ft |
| 15 ch | 990 ft |
| 20 ch | 1,320 ft |
| 25 ch | 1,650 ft |
| 30 ch | 1,980 ft |
| 40 ch | 2,640 ft |
| 50 ch | 3,300 ft |
| 60 ch | 3,960 ft |
| 70 ch | 4,620 ft |
| 75 ch | 4,950 ft |
| 80 ch | 5,280 ft |
| 90 ch | 5,940 ft |
| 100 ch | 6,600 ft |
| 250 ch | 16,500 ft |
| 500 ch | 33,000 ft |
| 1,000 ch | 66,000 ft |
Where you’ll use it
Gunter's chain made land arithmetic easy: 10 square chains are exactly one acre and 80 chains make a mile. The US Public Land Survey System was laid out in chains, so original township and section field notes are full of them, and so are colonial-era deeds and early Australian and New Zealand titles. A cricket pitch is still 22 yards, exactly one chain. Today, chain distances are converted to feet or meters to compare with modern surveys.
Tip: Links are hundredths of a chain, not inches. "3 chains 25 links" means 3.25 chains, or 214.5 feet. Also check the context: an engineer's chain of 100 feet was used in some railroad and civil work and is not the same unit.