thus assigned to the station and to the first rudiments of the town, taking the present high-road to Rochester for a boundary on one side, and the river for a boundary to the other, includes an area of ground averaging about 616 yards in length, by 264 in breadth, and comprising in superficial measure, according to Mr. Brown's Survey of the Parish, in 1822, 34a. 0r 35p.; the whole of which, except Dr. Lowdell's house, garden, and field, is the property of Messrs. Balston, and is called the Springfield Estate and Paper-mill, and on it stands the handsome mansion of the proprietors. Here then apparently was the original Roman settlement, which there is no reason to suppose was one which was formed on a large scale, but only to have been sufficient for the casual contingencies of ancient travelling and of the transit of troops. No one, indeed, entertains the opinion, however flourishing the place may now be, that there was ever a Roman town of magnitude here. We freely admit that there was some germ in existence then, some nucleus of the future town, which has since been so much developed ; and this forms a commencing-point for the portion of our subject now under consideration. It seems therefore much connected with our present inquiries, to show the progressive increase of the town and borough, from its small beginning at the original Roman "station," until it attained its present dimensions. In doing this, it must be understood that the archbishops, who were lords of the soil and had the chief sway and domination here from Saxon times, were the prime movers in all improvements in the place, down to the beginning of the fifteenth century; and having premised this, my ensuing remarks, or a portion of them, will have somewhat of a chronological scope in tracing these matters downwards.
   10. The ancient local divisions of the parish which are still retained, have a bearing on the progressive in