Thursday, April 19, 2018

Local County Tripoints

No...I haven't made a 'typo' when writing the title; I didn't mean to type 'trig points.'

A county 'tripoint' is a location where three counties meet. Here's a list of my local ones, starting at the nearest and then moving clockwise. 

South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and North Yorkshire: Right next to the southbound carriageway of the A1 trunk road about a hundred and fifty yards north of the Barnsdale Bar roundabout. The tripoint is located at the edge of a quarry and so there is no public access; the nearest point that can be reached is the bridge that goes over the dual carriageway and I've travelled along there a few times, on the bus, in a car, and even walked across it a couple of times...without realising the significance of the spot at the time.

South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and East Yorkshire [East Riding of Yorkshire]: On the northern bank of the River Went about two hundred yards south of Balne Croft. The closest I've been is the level crossing at Fenwick, about two and a half miles to the west. There's a footpath only about a hundred yards away and so it might be possible for me to visit this tripoint.

South Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire: This tripoint is in the middle of nowhere on the northern edge of Thorne Moors; the nearest building is Red House Farm. I think reaching this point would really test my navigating skills in this flat featureless landscape and so don't think I'll bother to try...anyhow I don't think there'll be anything to photograph.

South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire: Almost half a mile east of Ninescores Farm, midway between Wroot and Blaxton. A footpath passes to within about two hundred yards and so I might be able to reach this tripoint. Yet again it looks to be a rather uninteresting location though.

South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire: Right at the crossroads on Thorpe Common and so no problem with getting there and bagging a decent photograph. I've already visited Thorpe Salvin, about a mile and half away to the north west.

South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and Derbyshire: The only local tripoint on the moors, located to the west of Dunford Bridge. Looking at the map it seems to be the point where the catchment areas of three watercourses converge. To the north the River Holme flows to join the Calder, which then itself joins the Aire, and finally the Ouse, which merges with the Trent to form the Humber Estuary. Flowing to the east are the headwaters of the River Don which flows directly [by a looping route] into the Ouse at Goole. Interestingly the Don used to have two outlets, one a few miles to the west of Goole...and the other entering the Trent along its lowermost reaches. Flowing to the south and then turning to the west is one of the headwaters of the River Etherow which flows into the Mersey, which in turn empties into the Irish Sea at Liverpool. This tripoint is obvious on the watershed between rivers that flow into the North Sea to the east and the Irish Sea to the west and so I'd like to reach it - but it looks to be difficult boggy terrain...and it's a long way from the nearest bus stop.


Pre-1973 Tripoints

Local government in the United Kingdom was re-organised in 1973, re-drawing the boundaries of many of the traditional counties, splitting some into smaller units, and abolishing others altogether. Prior to this date Doncaster was in the West Riding of Yorkshire and my local county tripoints would all have been located in different places...and there were fewer of them.

Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire: This tripoint would have been about half a mile to the north west of the current South Yorkshire/Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire equivilant near to Ninescores Farm.

Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire: About half a mile south of the current location of the present South Yorkshire/Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire tripoint on Thorpe Common. Nearby Shireoaks gets its name from the fact that three oak trees were planted to mark the spot where the three counties met.

Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire: Located on Withern Moor, a mile south west of the current South Yorkshire/West Yorkshire/Derbyshire tripoint. Interestingly it isn't on the line of the watershed. Of course, nowadays neither South Yorkshire nor West Yorkshire has a stretch of boundary shared with Cheshire since the eastern salient was transferred to Derbyshire in 1973.


All of these tripoints are listed with links to interactive maps on this website:

http://www.wikiwand.com/en/List_of_tripoints_of_English_counties






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