governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors.
Area, 3955 acres.

_History of the City._--The existence of a Romano-British town on the
site of Canterbury has already been indicated. It was named
_Durovernum_, and was a flourishing county town on the road from the
Kentish ports to London. Mosaic pavements and other remains have been
found in considerable abundance. The city, known by the Saxons as
_Cantwaraburh_, the town of the men of Kent, was the metropolis of
Aethelberht's kingdom. At the time of the Domesday survey Canterbury
formed part of the royal demesne and was governed by a portreeve as it
had been before the Conquest. In the 13th and 14th centuries, two
bailiffs presided over the burghmote, assisted by a larger and smaller
council. Henry II., by an undated charter, confirmed former privileges
and granted to the citizens that no one should implead them outside the
city walls and that the pleas of the crown should be decided according
to the customs of the city. In 1256 Henry III. granted them the city at
an annual fee farm of L60, also the right of electing their bailiffs.
Confirmations of former charters with additional liberties were granted
by later sovereigns, and Henry VI. incorporated Canterbury, which he
called "one of our most ancient cities," under the style of the mayor
and commonalty, the mayor to be elected by the burgesses. James I. in
1609 confirmed these privileges, giving the burgesses the right to be
called a body corporate and to elect twelve aldermen and a common
council of twenty-four. Charles II., after calling in the charters of
corporations, granted a confirmation in 1684. Canterbury was first
represented in parliament in 1283, and it continued to return two
members until 1885, when the number was reduced to one. A fair was
granted by Henry VI. to the citizens to be held in the city or suburbs
on the 4th of August and the two days following; other fairs were in the
hands of the monasteries; the corn and cattle markets and a general
market have been held by prescription from time immemorial. Canterbury
was a great centre of the silk-weaving trade in the 17th century, large
numbers of Walloons, driven by persecution to England, having settled
there in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1676 Charles II. granted a charter
of incorporation to the Walloon congregation under style of the master,
wardens and fellowship of weavers in the city of Canterbury. The market
for the sale of corn and hops