The old town dating from 1788 occupies several winding irregular lanes at the head of Kingston Pier. The modern town, as laid out by the Royal Engineers during the 1830s, consists of a Roman-style grid plan. There are two long east west roads: Bay Street along the foreshore and Quality Row, the town's principal thoroughfare, along the foothills. These two boulevards are connected by short cross streets of Pier Street, Bounty Street and the former Bligh Street (now part of the drive to Government House).[5] Small stone bridges carry these streets across Watermill Creek. Four roads wind up country from the edges of the grid: Country Road, Middlegate Road, Rooty Hill Road and Driver Christian Road. All the buildings are located either in the old town or along Quality Row, with the exception of Government House which is located on a small knoll called Dove's Plot Hill. The middle and west of the plain forms the Kingston Common and Kingston Recreation Ground, with the golf links occupying the eastern end, and Kingston Cemetery in the north-east. This broad greensward with the Kingston swamp in its centre separates the two long boulevards.
