CountyWatch

CountyWatch is a direct action group in the United Kingdom that was set up in 2004 to remove what they consider to be wrongly-placed county boundary signs that do not mark the historic or ancient county boundaries of England and Wales. Since 2005, Count Nikolai Tolstoy has been Patron of CountyWatch. CountyWatch and its supporters claim to have removed, re-sited or erected 80 county boundary signs in Dorset, County Durham, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Somerset and Warwickshire. A prominent member of the group is Anthony Bennett, a British politician. In May 2002 Bennett was prosecuted for removing 29 road metric road signs which he claimed were illegal, and that he was preventing the law from being broken. He buried the signs in four locations under bushes. Initially found guilty of theft and criminal damage, his theft conviction was overturned in October 2002, on appeal. The judge stated that, "there was no evidence of dishonesty or that he intended to permanently deprive the owners of their signs." His conviction for criminal damage was upheld, however the Judge discharged the sentence, which had been 50 hours of community service.