Rick I found a surveyors chain for sale on ebay once (but didn't buy it) - I think from memory it was 22 yards long. Isn't that the length of a cricket pitch? The fascinating thing was that it consisted of 100 links, thus linking (sorry connecting) to the land measure. Sorry for keeping on the "off topic" but I had to put in my "two bob's worth". Jean > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:57:56 +1000 > From: "Rick Hull" <rick@bucketty.org> > Subject: [PJ] Land title searching > To: <aus-pt-jackson-convicts@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <008901c96afb$fa6505f0$9f00a8c0@ecamobile> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > G'Day all, > > Happy hunting for the new year to all. I just thought I would post a link > to the Dept of lands website http://parishmaps.lands.nsw.gov.au/pmap.html > which has historical maps online and included on the map is the property > owner. Have tracked down some ancestors old haunts but it can be time > consuming as you have to manually browse around each map (no name search > available) but if you know the parish name you can just browse the maps. > Also a parish name search tool > http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/name_search/extract?id=ujYbWyrXSX where you can > type in the name of a town, river etc and obtain the details for parish > etc... > > Sorry if I am posting a link you all know about but I have been having a > great time checking out the old maps. I also worked out where "3 chain > road" (aka song title) originates. Most roads of the time were 5 chains > wide but smaller ones were designated as a 3-chain road. Amazing what you > can learn by accident :) > > > Cheers all, > > Rick > > ------------------------------