London's Roman grid occupies only a small part of the modern city. Later development followed separate landholdings and settlements, often without central planning. Expansion absorbed places that had once been separated by hundreds of yards or several miles. Middlesex and parts of Surrey and Kent illustrate the scale of that growth. The M25 is used as a rough conversational boundary, rather than a precise account of London's administrative limits.
Notable Point · 3:51:03-3:52:32
How London outgrew its Roman grid
London's ancient grid survives only in a small core; later growth absorbed neighboring settlements and county land through piecemeal development rather than one metropolitan plan.