Stukeley, writing in 1722, when material evidence was not so hard to find, says that the Watling Street crossed over another Roman road (now Oxford Street), which passed by the back of Kensington into the great road to Brentford and Staines, "a Roman road all the way." The Watling Street then went across the end of Hyde Park, and by St. James's Park to the street near Palace Yard called the Wool Staple, and crossed to Stangate on the opposite side of the river. The southward continuation of the road then passed over St. George's Fields to Deptford and Blackheath; "a small portion of the ancient way pointing to (or from) Westminster Abbey is now the common road: ... from the top of Shooters' Hill the direction of the road is very plain both ways: ... beyond the hill it is very straight as far as the ken reaches: on Blackheath is a tumulus." From the Watling Street, on Blackheath, was obtained the first prospect of London, where travellers during the Middle Age paused, as visitors to Rome paused on their way only half a century agone. The mayor with all the crafts of the city, in 1415, rode out thus far to meet Henry V. returning from France. The King from Eltham sone he cam, Hys prisenors with hym dede brynge, And to the Blak-heth ful sone he cam. He saw London withoughte lesynge; Heil, ryall London, seyde our Kyng, Crist the Kepe evere from care.--LYDGATE. In his letter to Wren Dr. Woodward says that in several places lying near by in a line, particularly on this side of Shooters' Hill, where the country is low, there remained a raised highway 40 feet wide and 4 feet high. According to Allen's history a portion of the Roman way leading to Stangate was found just north of Newington Church in 1824. Stukeley thought that the west-to-east road, over the present Oxford Street, originally passed to the north of London into Essex (by Old Street), "because London was not then considerable, but in a little time Holborn was struck out from it, entering the city at Newgate, and so to London-Stone, the _Lapis Milliaris_, and hence the reason why the name of Watling Street is still preserved in the city."