The town continued to grow, both at the gates of the castellum Castellum sancti Dionysii
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fortification built by Charles the Bald in 869 around the abbey of Saint-Denis; the zone delimited by the walls of this castellum. and along the four roads leading to it. Saint-Denis linked up with the settlement of Saint-Marcel, Estrée and Saint-Remi. We know more about the "terre de Saint-Marcel", because archives contain a number of documents relating to the never-ending disputes between the abbey and the lords of Montmorency. The legal dispute, which mostly concern the public roads, testify to the intense trade that must have benefited the development of this inner suburb. The Sainte-Croix church, mentioned in 1205, was probably the result of the splitting up of the Saint-Marcel parish. We do not know the exact location of the Saint-Nicolas-des-Aulnes church, which probably stood between the Seine and l'Estrée.