What Was A Chain And What Did It Have To Do With Ploughing?

A chain was literally a chain that was 22 yards long that a ploughman used to plough his quota that was expected of him during a day's work.

Any ploughman with a team of horses was expected to plough an acre a day, which was 4 840 square yards. He would use the chain to lay along the headland of the field he was ploughing to show him the width of the area to be ploughed. From the headland, he would then plough furlongs (furrows-long) of 10 chains, or 220 yards,

When he had completed ploughing this area, his day's work was finished, except for grooming and feeding the horses.

On Sundays he would use the same chain to mark the length of the cricket pitch used for local games – which is why a cricket pitch of today is 22 yards long.