How do I convert Chains to Yards?
A chain is 22 yards (66 feet), so multiply chains by 22 to get yards – 5 chains is 110 yards and 10 chains is 220 yards. A cricket pitch is exactly one chain long.
What is a chain?
The chain is a surveying unit of 66 feet, which is exactly 20.1168 meters. It is divided into 100 links of 7.92 inches each, and 80 chains make a mile.
The chain was devised by the English mathematician Edmund Gunter around 1620 and used to survey land. Ten square chains make exactly an acre, which is why surveyors liked it. GPS has replaced it for most work, though US public land surveys are still recorded in chains and links.
What is a yard?
A yard is 3 feet or 36 inches. In the US you mostly see it on football fields, which run 100 yards between the goal lines, and in the UK short road distances are still signed in yards.
The yard is traditionally the distance from the nose of King Henry I of England to the thumb of his outstretched arm, though its length varied from place to place for centuries. It was only fixed internationally in 1959, at exactly 0.9144 meters.
Nearly every other country uses the meter instead. In the US, bulk soil and mulch are still sold by the cubic yard, which is 27 cubic feet.