very tide would form a
lake."

Here, then, Dion Cassius, writing in the second century, describes for
us the site of Southwark. He furnishes us with what we want--the "lynn"
for our "down," the Lon for the Don. We do not know for certain whether
this Celtic London was on the double hill or among the islets
opposite--whether, that is, the town was on the lynn or on the dun.
There is, however, a certain amount of evidence that it was on the
lynn. A British road seems to have been already in existence--the road
which led from Dover toward Chester. Where did it cross the Thames? If
we could make sure of the answer, our three facts would become four.
There was no bridge in this Celtic period to carry the road across the
Thames. At the same time, we know that a crossing was made; and, if we
judge by the course and direction of the road, it must have been at or
very near what is now called Westminster. Here the shoal-water, as
sailors say, was on both sides of the river. The islets, many of them
covered at every high tide, existed where a landing was called by later
settlers the Lambhithe. Other landing-places are denoted by such names
as Stanegate, Toothill, Merefleet, Pollen Stock, Thorney, Jakeslea and
others, all Saxon, which tell us of the condition of both banks of the
Thames at a very remote period. From this we may safely argue--first,
that the amount of water coming down being approximately the same, it
had a much wider district to cover; and, secondly, that it was much more
shallow. These names also show that, in crossing, the road from Dover
had in Saxon times certain landmarks to follow, while the use of the
word Toot, our word "tout," shows that guides existed, who could be
called upon to help travellers across. All these items are more or less
obscurely mentioned by Dion Cassius, and show that wheresoever Celtic
London stood, whether on the left or the right bank, Aulus Plautius
chose the easternmost of the double hills for his bridge head; and when
the wall was built, a couple of centuries later, it took in the western
hill as well, while the bridge rendered the ford at Westminster useless,
and the Watling Street was diverted at the Marble Arch along Oxford
Street, instead of running straight down Park Lane to the ford at
Westminster.

As for facts in the history of Celtic London, we have none. The late
General Pitt Rivers recorded the discovery of piles, of origin possibly
before the Roman period, in the stre