It is the highest point (county top) of the historic county of Cheshire, lying at the tip of what was once known as the Cheshire Panhandle, a long projection of the county which lay to the north of the reservoir filled valley of Longdendale. Under the local government reforms which were enacted in 1974, Black Hill was placed for administrative purposes on the border between the boroughs of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and High Peak in Derbyshire. It reaches above sea level and is surpassed in height in the Peak District by only two other major summits (Kinder Scout and Bleaklow). It common with those two hills, Black Hill is a typical Pennine moorland mountain, with a very flat and extensive plateau (but steeper sides).