List of tripoints of counties of England

This article contains a list of tripoints of counties of England. A tripoint is the point at which three geographical regions meet.

Ceremonial county tripoints

The table contains a list of the 68 tripoints for the ceremonial counties of England as per the Lieutenancies Act 1997, as amended. Also included are the three points at which two counties meet the borders with Wales and Scotland. For each tripoint the counties are ordered with the first alphabetically given first, and the counties listed anti-clockwise around the point from there.

County 1 County 2 County 3 Grid Ref NotesDevonDorsetSomersetDorsetWiltshireSomersetDorsetHampshireWiltshireHampshireWest SussexSurreyEast SussexSurreyWest SussexThese two tripoints are just about a mile from one another, to the east of East Grinstead.East SussexKentSurreyBerkshireBuckinghamshireOxfordshireBerkshireSurreyBuckinghamshireBerkshireHampshireSurreyBerkshireWiltshireHampshireBerkshireOxfordshireWiltshireGreater LondonSurreyKentFormerly located at EssexHertfordshireGreater LondonThis tripoint is located beside where the M25 motorway crosses the River Lea.EssexGreater LondonKentCambridgeshireNorfolkLincolnshireCambridgeshireSuffolkNorfolkNear to Shippea Hill railway stationCambridgeshireEssexSuffolkCambridgeshireHertfordshireEssexCambridgeshireNorthamptonshireLincolnshire Often incorrectly believed to be a quadripoint, these two tripoints are around 20 metres apart.LincolnshireRutlandNorthamptonshireBedfordshireHertfordshireCambridgeshireBedfordshireBuckinghamshireHertfordshireBedfordshireNorthamptonshireBuckinghamshireLocated at the edge of "Threeshire Wood".BedfordshireCambridgeshireNorthamptonshireMarked by a "Three Shire Stone"BuckinghamshireGreater LondonHertfordshireBerkshireSurreyGreater LondonBuckinghamshireNorthamptonshireOxfordshireBristolSomersetGloucestershireGloucestershireSomersetWiltshireGloucestershireHerefordshireWalesGloucestershireWorcestershireHerefordshireGloucestershireWarwickshireWorcestershireGloucestershireOxfordshireWarwickshireLocation of the "Four Shire Stone" monument, marking the location of a former quadripoint when the site also bordered a detached area of Worcestershire.GloucestershireWiltshireOxfordshireHerefordshireShropshireWalesHerefordshireWorcestershireShropshireWest MidlandsWorcestershireWarwickshireNorthamptonshireWarwickshireOxfordshireLeicestershireLincolnshireNottinghamshireMarked by "Three Shire Oak".LeicestershireRutlandLincolnshireLeicestershireNorthamptonshireRutlandLeicestershireWarwickshireNorthamptonshireMarked by Dow BridgeLeicestershireStaffordshireWarwickshire These two tripoints are just under a mile from one another - see No Man's Heath.StaffordshireWest MidlandsWarwickshireStaffordshireWorcestershireWest MidlandsShropshireWorcestershireStaffordshireDerbyshireSouth YorkshireWest YorkshireDerbyshireNottinghamshireSouth YorkshireSituated 500m north of "Three Shires Oak".DerbyshireLeicestershireNottinghamshireDerbyshireStaffordshireLeicestershireDerbyshireWest YorkshireGreater ManchesterCheshireGreater ManchesterMerseysideCheshireDerbyshireGreater ManchesterCheshireStaffordshireDerbyshireKnown as Three Shire Heads and the former location of three stones marking the boundary and shown on John Speed's map of 1612.CheshireShropshireStaffordshireCheshireWalesShropshireGreater ManchesterWest YorkshireLancashireGreater ManchesterLancashireMerseysideEast RidingNottinghamshireLincolnshireEast RidingSouth YorkshireNottinghamshireEast RidingNorth YorkshireSouth YorkshireLancashireWest YorkshireNorth YorkshireNorth YorkshireWest YorkshireSouth YorkshireDurhamTyne and WearNorthumberlandCumbriaDurhamNorthumberlandCumbriaNorth YorkshireDurhamCumbriaLancashireNorth YorkshireCumbriaNorthumberlandScotland

As a result of the Local Government Act 1972, between 1974 and 1996 the counties of Avon and Cleveland had three tripoints that are no longer in existence.

County 1 County 2 County 3 Grid RefAvonWiltshireGloucestershireAvonSomersetWiltshireClevelandDurhamNorth Yorkshire

Historic county tripoints

The table contains a list of the 58 principal tripoints for the historic counties of England prior to 1800.Ordnance Survey: First Edition, 1806 As the English county boundaries had remained essentially unchanged since the eleventh century, the list can thus be seen to represent the "original" locations of the English county tripoints.

During the nineteenth century a number of laws, most notably the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61), resulted in the relocation of some sections of historic boundaries, principally to remove detached portions of counties. With the notable exception of the creation of the metropolitan counties in 1974, the majority of the boundaries have remained unchanged since then. For comparison the locations of the tripoints in 1890 are also listed in the table, by which time the majority of the localised changes had been made. The handful of additional tripoints that were formed by detached parts of counties are not listed in the table (e.g. Devon(detached)-Dorset-Somerset, Staffordshire-Shropshire(detached)-Worcestershire(detached)).

The symbol (†) indicates that the original point still exists unchanged as a tripoint of the current ceremonial counties. (Many of the other points still exist as the meeting of three administrative districts.) For each tripoint the counties are ordered with the first alphabetically given first, and the counties listed anti-clockwise around the point from there.

County 1 County 2 County 3 Grid Ref (1806) Grid Ref (1890) NotesDevonDorsetSomersetDorsetWiltshireSomerset†DorsetHampshireWiltshireHampshireSussexSurrey†KentSurreySussex†BerkshireWiltshireHampshireBerkshireHampshireSurrey†BerkshireSurreyBuckinghamshireBerkshireBuckinghamshireOxfordshireBerkshireOxfordshireGloucestershireThese two tripoints are just over a mile from one another near Lechlade.BerkshireGloucestershireWiltshire GloucestershireSomersetWiltshire†GloucestershireWorcestershireHerefordshire†GloucestershireHerefordshireMonmouthshire†GloucestershireWarwickshireWorcestershireMarked by the "Three Shire Elms"GloucestershireOxfordshireWarwickshire†BuckinghamshireNorthamptonshireOxfordshire†BuckinghamshireSurreyMiddlesexBuckinghamshireMiddlesexHertfordshire†BedfordshireHertfordshireCambridgeshire†BedfordshireBuckinghamshireHertfordshireBedfordshireNorthamptonshireBuckinghamshire†BedfordshireHuntingdonshireNorthamptonshire†MiddlesexSurreyKentEssexMiddlesexKentEssexHertfordshireMiddlesexCambridgeshireHertfordshireEssexCambridgeshireEssexSuffolk†CambridgeshireSuffolkNorfolkCambridgeshireNorfolkLincolnshireCambridgeshireLincolnshireNorthamptonshireCambridgeshireNorthamptonshireHuntingdonshireBedfordshireCambridgeshireHuntingdonshireLincolnshireRutlandNorthamptonshireLeicestershireNorthamptonshireRutland†LeicestershireWarwickshireNorthamptonshire†LeicestershireStaffordshireWarwickshire†LeicestershireRutlandLincolnshire†StaffordshireWorcestershireWarwickshireShropshireWorcestershireStaffordshireHerefordshireWorcestershireShropshireHerefordshireShropshireRadnorshire†DerbyshireStaffordshireLeicestershire†DerbyshireLeicestershireNottinghamshire†LeicestershireLincolnshireNottinghamshire†DerbyshireNottinghamshireYorkshireCheshireFlintshireShropshire†CheshireShropshireStaffordshire†CheshireStaffordshireDerbyshire†CheshireDerbyshireYorkshireCheshireYorkshireLancashireLincolnshireYorkshireNottinghamshireLancashireYorkshireWestmorlandCumberlandLancashireWestmorlandCumberlandWestmorlandDurhamDurhamWestmorlandYorkshireCumberlandDurhamNorthumberland†CumberlandNorthumberlandRoxburghshire†

See also List of tripoints Three Shire Stone (disambiguation) Bassetts Pole

References