Convert length and distance units — meters, feet, inches, kilometers, miles, light years and more.
| Unit | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0.001 chain | 0.0001 fur | |
| 0.01 chain | 0.001 fur | |
| 0.1 chain | 0.01 fur | |
| 1 chain | 0.1 fur | |
| 5 chain | 0.5 fur | |
| 10 chain | 1 fur | |
| 50 chain | 5 fur | |
| 100 chain | 10 fur | |
| 1000 chain | 100 fur |
Multiply the number of Chains by 0.1 to get Furlongs. Formula: fur = chain × 0.1. Example: 10 chain × 0.1 = 1 fur. To reverse, divide Furlongs by 0.1 to get Chains.
| Chain (chain) | Furlong (fur) |
|---|---|
| 0.001 chain | 0.0001 fur |
| 0.01 chain | 0.001 fur |
| 0.1 chain | 0.01 fur |
| 0.5 chain | 0.05 fur |
| 1 chain | 0.1 fur |
| 2 chain | 0.2 fur |
| 5 chain | 0.5 fur |
| 10 chain | 1 fur |
| 20 chain | 2 fur |
| 50 chain | 5 fur |
| 100 chain | 10 fur |
| 250 chain | 25 fur |
| 500 chain | 50 fur |
| 1000 chain | 100 fur |
| 10000 chain | 1000 fur |
To convert Chain to Furlong, multiply by 0.1. Example: 10 chain = 1 fur
To convert Furlong back to Chain, divide by 0.1 (multiply by 10). Use the swap button above.
Start with 100 Chains = 10 fur as your reference point. Scale up or down from there.
A furlong is exactly 10 chains — the most direct relationship between any two imperial length units. Racecourse designers use chains during layout surveying, then convert to furlongs for official race distance marking.
In traditional English field systems, a furlong was the length of a furrow (the origin of the word). Surveyors dividing agricultural land used chains, converting to furlongs for field naming and area calculations.
Before kilometre stones, British roads were measured in furlongs and chains. Historians researching turnpike roads and coaching routes encounter both units in the same documents, requiring conversion.
British railway distance is still officially measured in miles and chains in the UK. The furlong (10 chains) occasionally appears in historical railway records requiring conversion for route planning and infrastructure surveys.
Title deeds and enclosure maps from 17th–19th century England describe field boundaries in both chains and furlongs. Genealogists and local historians convert between the two units when mapping ancestral landholdings.
The chain-to-furlong ratio (10:1) is a perfect example of how pre-metric imperial units were systematically related. Educators use this conversion to explain the internal logic of the imperial measurement system.
The Chain is a unit of Length measurement (symbol: chain). 1 chain = 0.1 fur. Used in scientific and practical Length measurement applications.
The Furlong is a unit of Length measurement (symbol: fur). It is part of an internationally recognised measurement system used alongside the Chain.
Edmund Gunter invented the surveyor's chain in 1620. His design — 100 links totalling exactly 66 feet — was brilliantly chosen: 10 chains × 10 chains = 1 acre, making area calculation trivially simple in the field. 80 chains = 1 mile, 10 chains = 1 furlong. The chain became standard across the British Empire and is written into American law — the US Public Land Survey System still divides land using chains and links.
The furlong — from Old English 'furlang', meaning furrow-long — was the standard length of one furrow ploughed by an ox team without resting, typically 220 yards. It dates to at least 8th-century England. The furlong's relationship to other units was carefully defined: 10 chains = 1 furlong, 8 furlongs = 1 mile. Today it survives almost exclusively in horse racing, where it remains the official distance unit in the UK, Ireland, and several other countries.
Common use: Chain to Furlong conversion is needed when working with international standards, scientific publications, or reference materials that use different unit systems for Length measurement.