Styford Bridge is a modern concrete bridge carrying the

A68 road The A68 is a major road in the United Kingdom, running from Darlington in England to the A720 in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It crosses the Anglo-Scottish border at Carter Bar and is the only road to do so for some distance either way ...

across the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

east of

Riding Mill Riding Mill is a village near Hexham in Northumberland, England. It is part of the civil parish of Broomhaugh and Riding. It is served by Riding Mill railway station and by a frequent bus service on the route from Hexham to Newcastle. Riding Mi ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and forms part of the A68 bypass of

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was k ...

History

The

from

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

used to descend the south side of the Tyne valley to the village of

, then followed the

to the

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

, and from there ran northwest to

Jedburgh Jedburgh ( ; ; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire. History Jedburgh began as ''Jedworð'', the "worth" or enclosed settlem ...

. The new road descends sharply to the east and crosses the

about downstream of Riding Mill. The new road carries on northwards to meet the A69 at the Styford roundabout. The A68 and the A69 follow the bypass west for about to the Stagshaw Road roundabout where the A68 leaves to join the old alignment. The new link road was opened by the

Duke of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of N ...

in a ceremony on the bridge. Present were Councillor Robert Barnett, Chairman of

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

and Councillor the Reverend Alec Beniams, Chairman of

Tynedale __NOTOC__ Tynedale was a local government district in Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 census. The main towns were Hexham, Haltwhistle and Prudhoe. The district contained part of ...

District Council. The main contractors for the link road were Northumberland County Council direct labour organisation and Eden Construction of Carlisle Limited. The bridge was the main responsibility of the county council labour force and was approved by the Royal Fine Art Commission. The bridge, which cost £530,000, was personally designed by Tom Smith, assistant county surveyor.

Air crash

On 9 January 1990, two RAF jets collided in mid-air over the Tyne Valley, and one crashed to earth. The two-man crew from one aircraft, a

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

ZA394 from RAF Laarbruch in West Germany, ejected to safety. The other plane, a

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

XZ108, managed to stay in the air and safely divert to

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or more simply RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 19 ...

in Yorkshire. The pilot and navigator from the Tornado were both injured. Wreckage from the crash fell onto the bridge; this caused minor damage to the road surface and to both safety barriers.

References

External links

Styford Bridge
at Bridges on the Tyne {{River item box , River =

, upstream = Corbridge Bridge , upsub = {{UK road, B6321 , downstream = Bywell Bridge , downsub = {{UK road, B6309 , type = bridge , location = NZ030618 Crossings of the River Tyne Bywell