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==Modern use and historic cultural references== {{further|Milestone|Linear referencing}} ===United Kingdom=== [[Image:Bridge miles and chains.jpg|thumb|Location marker painted on a British railway bridge, showing 112 miles and 63 chains; photograph taken August 2007]] In the United Kingdom, the chain is no longer used for practical survey work.<ref>Plane and Geodetic Surveying, A.L. Johnson (SPON)</ref> However, it is still used on the railways as a location identifier. When railways were designed, the location of features such as bridges and stations was indicated by a cumulative longitudinal "mileage", using miles and chains, from a zero point at the origin or headquarters of the railway, or the originating junction of a new branch line. Since railways are linear in topology, the "mileage" or "chainage" is sufficient to identify a place uniquely on any given route. Thus, a given bridge location may be indicated as 112 miles and 63 chains (181.51 km) from the origin. In the case of the photograph, the bridge is near [[Keynsham]], which is that distance from [[London Paddington station]]. The indication "MLN" after the mileage is the [[Engineer's Line Reference]] describing the route as the [[Great Western Main Line]], which is needed to uniquely determine the bridge, as there may be points at 112 miles 63 chains on other routes. On new railway lines built in the United Kingdom such as [[High Speed 1]], the position along the alignment is still referred to as "chainage", although the value is now expressed in metres.<ref>[http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/hs2-maps-20120110/hs2arp00drrw05022issue4.pdf HS2 proposed alignment with chainages expressed in metres]</ref> ===North America=== The use of the chain was mandatory in laying out US townships.<ref name=Cazier/> A federal law was passed in 1785 (the [[Public Land Survey System|Public Land Survey Ordinance]]) that all official government surveys must be done with a Gunter's (surveyor's) chain. Chains and links are commonly encountered in older [[metes and bounds]] legal descriptions. Distances on township [[plat]] maps made by the US General Land Office are shown in chains. Under the US [[Public Land Survey System]], [[Lot (real estate)|parcels of land]] are often described in terms of the [[Section (United States land surveying)|section]] ({{convert|640|acre|ha|0|disp=or}}), quarter-section ({{convert|160|acre|ha|1|disp=or}}), and quarter-quarter-section ({{convert|40|acre|ha|2|disp=or}}). Respectively, these square divisions of land are approximately 80 chains (one mile or 1.6 km), 40 chains (half a mile or 800 m), and 20 chains (a quarter mile or 400 m) on a side. The chain is still used in agriculture: measuring wheels with a circumference of 0.1 chain (diameter โ 2.1 ft or 64 cm) are still readily available in Canada and the United States. For a rectangular tract, multiplying the number of turns of a chain wheel for each of two adjacent sides and dividing by 1,000 gives the area in acres. In Canada, road allowances were originally 1 chain wide and are now 20 metres.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lakey |first1=Jack |title=Turns out there is a standard to determine where a homeowner's property ends: The Fixer |url= https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/the_fixer/2017/06/21/turns-out-there-is-a-standard-to-determine-where-a-homeowners-property-ends-the-fixer.html |access-date=22 June 2017 |work=[[Toronto Star]] |date=21 June 2017}}</ref> The unit was also used in mapping the United States along train routes in the 19th century. [[Railroad]]s in the United States have long since {{when|date=July 2018}} used [[decimal]] fractions of a mile. Some subways such as the [[New York City Subway]] and the [[Washington Metro]] were designed with and continue with a [[New York City Subway chaining|chaining system]] using the 100-foot [[engineer's chain]].<ref name=ERA>{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/erausa/docs/2017-01-bulletin|title=The ERA Bulletin 2017-01|date=January 18, 2017|website=[[Issuu]]|publisher=Electric Railroaders' Association|access-date=January 18, 2017}}</ref> In the United States, the chain is also used as the measure of the rate of spread of wildfires (chains per hour), both in the predictive [[National Fire Danger Rating System]] as well as in after-action reports. The term ''chain'' is used by wildland firefighters in day-to-day operations as a unit of distance.<ref>[http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr090/psw_gtr090.pdf Documents]</ref> ===Australia and New Zealand=== In [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]], most building lots in the past were a quarter of an acre, measuring one chain by two and a half chains, and other lots would be multiples or fractions of a chain.<ref name="Seddon1998">{{cite book|author=George Seddon|title=Landprints: Reflections on Place and Landscape|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZIAR6EvER2AC&pg=PA151|access-date=28 May 2013|date=28 September 1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65999-4|pages=151โ}}</ref> The street [[frontage]]s of many houses in these countries are one chain wideโroads were almost always {{convert|1|chain|m|1}} wide in urban areas,<ref name="Seddon1998"/> sometimes {{convert|1.5|chain|m|1}} or {{convert|2.5|chain|m|1}}. Laneways would be half a chain (10.1 m). In rural areas the roads were wider, up to {{convert|10|chain|m|1}} where a [[stock route]] was required. {{convert|5|chain|m|1}} roads were surveyed as major roads or highways between larger towns, {{convert|3|chain|m|1}} roads between smaller localities,<ref>{{cite web|last=Lay|first=M. G.|title=Roads|url=http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01255b.htm|work=emelbourne the city past and present|publisher=School of Historical Studies Department of History, The University of Melbourne|access-date=28 May 2013|date=July 2008}}</ref> and {{convert|2|chain|m|1}} roads were local roads in farming communities. Roads named Three Chain Road etc. persist today.<ref>{{cite web |title=375 THREE CHAIN ROAD, Kilmore, Vic 3764 - Property Details |url=https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-livestock-vic-kilmore-7908210 |website=www.realestate.com.au |access-date=8 August 2018 |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Map of Three Chain Road in Queensland - Bonzle Digital Atlas of Australia |url=http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=173789&cmd=sp |website=www.bonzle.com |access-date=8 August 2018}}</ref> The "Queen's Chain" is a concept that has long existed in New Zealand, of a strip of public land, usually 20 metres (or one chain in pre-metric measure) wide from the high water mark, that has been set aside for public use along the coast, around many lakes, and along all or part of many rivers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/queen%27s_chain|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808172201/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/queen%27s_chain|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 8, 2018|access-date=4 July 2017|title=Queen's Chain|publisher=Oxford Dictionaries โ oxforddictionaries.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3517579|access-date=4 July 2017|title=Truth behind the Queen's Chain|date=12 August 2003|publisher=[[The New Zealand Herald]] }}</ref> These strips exist in various forms (including road reserves, esplanade reserves, esplanade strips, marginal strips and reserves of various types) but not as extensively and consistently as is often assumed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/law-of-the-foreshore-and-seabed/page-3|title=Te Ara, Encyclopedia of New Zealand}}</ref> ===Cricket pitches=== The chain also survives as the length of a [[cricket pitch]], being the distance between the stumps.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/23233624/the-measurements-cricket |title=The measurements of cricket |work=ESPN Cricinfo |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zpcg4j6/revision/2 |title=Cricket - factfile |work=BBC Bitesize |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref>
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