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Dow Bridge is a location in theEnglish Midlands where theA5 road (the formerRomanWatling Street) crosses theRiver Avon. It is the point where the three counties ofWarwickshire,Leicestershire andNorthamptonshire meet, forming atripoint.
A bridge has existed at the location since Roman times. The 16th-century antiquaryJohn Leland wrote 'Where this bridge is there were two smaller ones, the wider for carriages, the lesser, evidently Roman, for foot passengers and horses.' The site was for centuries believed to have been the location of the Roman town ofTripontium, however this was later discovered around a mile to the north. The bridge was rebuilt in around 1776 by the Road Commissioners, consisting of five brick arches and was again rebuilt in 1838, incorporating parts of the earlier bridge. On this bridge was a stone called the 'Three Shires Stone' marking the junction of the three counties. This bridge becameGrade II listed in 1990. It is now disused having been replaced by a modern road bridge to the west which was built in the 1930s.[1][2][3]
It lies close to the Warwickshire villages ofNewton andClifton-upon-Dunsmore (the bridge being in the parish of the former), the Leicestershire village ofCatthorpe and the Northamptonshire village ofLilbourne.
52°23′48″N1°12′10″W / 52.396599°N 1.202795°W /52.396599; -1.202795