Editing Somerset (section)

===Boundaries===
[[File:Bristol MMB «D0 Avon Gorge.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Avon Gorge]], the historic boundary between Gloucestershire and Somerset, and also [[Mercia]] and [[Wessex]]; Somerset is to the left]]
The boundaries of Somerset are largely unaltered from medieval times. The main change has been in the north, where the [[River Avon (Bristol)|River Avon]] formed the border with Gloucestershire, except that the [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]] of [[Bath Forum]], which straddles the Avon, formed part of Somerset. Bristol began as a town on the Gloucestershire side of the Avon, but as it grew it extended across the river into Somerset. In 1373 [[Edward III of England|Edward III]] proclaimed "that the town of Bristol with its suburbs and precincts shall henceforth be separate from the counties of Gloucester and Somerset&nbsp;... and that it should be a [[City and County of Bristol|county by itself]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Myers|first=Alec Reginald|author2=Douglas, David Charles|title=English Historical Documents 1327–1485|publisher=Routledge|year=1996|page=560|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRsLUVOCqbkC|isbn=978-0-415-14369-1|access-date=6 June 2009|archive-date=28 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528144125/https://books.google.com/books?id=jRsLUVOCqbkC|url-status=live}}</ref>

The present-day northern border of Somerset (adjoining the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire) runs along the southern bank of the Avon from the Bristol Channel, then follows around the southern edge of the Bristol built-up area, before continuing upstream along the Avon and then diverges from the river to include Bath and its historic hinterland to the north of the Avon, before meeting Wiltshire at the ''Three Shire Stones'' on the ''[[Fosse Way]]'' at [[Batheaston]].<ref name=ordnances>[[Ordnance Survey]] mapping</ref>