Kerne Bridge

Kerne Bridge was built on the site of a Pre-Roman ford across the River Wye. This ancient crossing came to be known as Flanesford before 1346 when the first stone of Flanesford Priory was laid nearby "in loco Flanesford vulgariter nuncupato" (in the place commonly called Flanesford). The origins of the name Flanesford are obscure. It has been suggested that it was derived from an English-Welsh conjunction, the Welsh llan (church or enclosure) joined to the English ford, or possibly the Welsh ffordd (way) but it is more likely the prefix is the Old English flanes from flan (arrow). The presence of the mill gave the name - The Cweorn - to the small settlement which became established there.…

The Kerne Bridge Company was forced to negotiate with no fewer than eight landowners for the sale of parcels of land necessary for the approaches to the bridge. After acquiring them, in July 1825 the Company called for "Persons inclined to contract for building a bridge over the River Wye at a place called The Kerne in the County of Hereford" to provide plans and estimates by 15 August 1825. The Company declared that the bridge could be built of stone or iron. Richard Burton soon withdrew from the project. BD (David) Jones of the Tredegar Ironworks, then in Monmouthshire, now in Blaenau Gwent, took over in 1826 and completed the building. Jones dug two roadside quarries just north of the…

The Act required a company, to be named The Kerne Bridge Company, to be set up to erect and maintain the bridge and to make and maintain the roads connecting to it. Once the bridge was in operation the company would be allowed to charge tolls for the upkeep of it and the connecting roads and for the profit of the company shareholders.