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0.11

Hartford Bridge

Blyth
Northumberland Rivers catchment • Hartford Bridge • Northumberland • ID: 022006 • Level
(33m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 126 views

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Current Level
0.111 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.118 m
24h Min
0.111 m
Typical Range
0.11 - 0.55
m
Highest Recorded
2.46 m
EA official record
1.76 in our data (since Mar 1963)
Current level is 5% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.2 cm over 6h
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.111 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.111 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.113 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.113 m
23 Aug 18:15 0.113 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 5.9 km away).

15flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 20 Oct 2023River Pont at Kirkley Mill, Fox Covert Lane, Darras Hall and Prestwick Carr

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2023 4 0
2016 5 0
2013 3 0
2012 3 0

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Hartford Bridge flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Hartford Bridge
  • Watercourse: River Blyth
  • Nearest Town: Hartford Bridge
  • County: Northumberland
  • Nearest reservoir: Whittle Dene (21.4 km) · 71.0% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 55°6'50"N 1°37'14"W (55.113789, -1.620587)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 16 Mar 1963
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 022006
  • EA Gauge ID: 022006-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Northumberland Rivers
  • Typical Range: 0.112 – 0.550 m
  • Drainage Area: 269 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.11 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Catchment Character

🌊 Flashy Rain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often within hours of heavy rain.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.33
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
743 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +2% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
53.23 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
138 m³/s
6 Sep 2008
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 2.188.460.8120.1365% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 6%Grassland 49%Arable 41%Urban 4%Other 1%
Arable 46% → 41% since 1990

Flow affected by: public water supply, effluent returns.

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Velocity area station with flat V weir. Weir modified to prevent sedimentation in 1978.

More detail

The catchment

Mostly low-lying, moderate-permeability catchment (Millstone Grit and Coal Measures), with around four fifths of the catchment covered by boulder clay. Mixed arable and grassland. No known catchment changes.

The station

Velocity area station, with flat V weir (24.3m wide) for low flow control installed in 1968. Distance between wing walls was reduced to 20.0m in November 1978 to prevent sedimentation, and walls raised from 1.0m to 1.5m. Located on a straight section with stony bed, just u/s of a rock rapid. Two downstream pre-barrages constructed in 2014 to improve fish passage over the structure, eel tiles added at the same time.

How it measures flow

Three ratings applied across period of record, the most recent is valid from November 1978 when weir modifications necessitated a rating change. Flood Studies Report grade A1. No change required following fish passage improvements.

Flow regime

Small net export of water as the majority of runoff from headwaters of River Pont (approx 25.8 sqkm) is diverted to Whittle Dene reservoirs.

The flow record

No bypassing except in flood events of December 1978 and March 1979, although over-topped at high flows. Flows 19/09/2014-06/10/2014 affected by fish pass installation. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1966
Station datum
24.6 mAOD
Flow record
1966–2024 · 58 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1960
Hydrometric area
22
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Blyth at Hartford Bridge flooding today?

The current level is 0.11m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Hartford Bridge?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Blyth at Hartford Bridge?

The typical range at this station is 0.11m to 0.55m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.55m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →