Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/391

3S 6 T H'R HI.S.TORYI Boakf.. to have been originally* laid out in the original towns of Lanca- fhire And ii> the ftat© of Lancashire under the Ramans, when there were only eight towns within its ample dimenfions*. and when thefe were difperfed at a diftance over the face of the county, every town muft neceflarily have had a market, and Manchester muft have been a market-town from the fir ft a&ual moment of its commencement. But' the ftreet9 of Maiicuniuxn^ muft have been all of them narrow. The firft original ftreet being • eonftrufted < along the margin of the Roman road* the breadth, of the latter muft have been actually the width of the former^ That I have previoufly mentioned to have been only about five yards in breadth. And the other ftreets of the town would certainly not be conftru&ed of a gteater, would probably not be conftru&ed of an equal breadth 4 The ftreets even of Rome were wery narrow in general ; and when Nero rebuilt the city after the dreadful- conflagration in 64, many of the Romans com- plained of his conduct, alledging the ftreets to be unwariljr widened and the heat erf" the fun to be indifcreetly let in upon; them*. And the ftteets of Silchefter have been meafured by the evident tracks in the corn and by the evident foundations on the fides, and are found to have been generally feven os eight yards* only in breadth 3 . Such therefore muft have been the ftreets of Mancunium, and the fame inconvenient narrownefs* has contU nued nearly to the prcfent century in all the fubfequent ftreets of Manchester. Thefe were all certainly paved by the Roman Britons* The Romans* who frequently fpread a pavement of ft ones over the face of their Britiih roads ± would certainly not neglect to fpread it, where it was much more requffite, on the ftreets of the Britifli towns. The firft and priacipal ftreet muft d&imlly have been paved from the beginning, as the Roman road* was paved along the borders of which the buildings of it extended. And all the remnants of- ftreets- that have been dif- covdred within .the area of the town were ali regular courfes of pavement. . Though the ftreets of Rome were fo narrow, yet the buildings of Rome were remarkably lofty. They generally rofe fix feven OP