River Rother, South Yorkshire
Encyclopedia
The River Rother is a river
in the northern midlands of England
, after which the town of Rotherham
and the Rother Valley parliamentary constituency are named. It rises near Clay Cross
in Derbyshire
, and flows through the centre of Chesterfield, where it feeds the Chesterfield Canal
. Further downstream, it flows through the Rother Valley Country Park
and several districts of Sheffield
, before joining the River Don at Rotherham
.
From the 1880s, the water quality deteriorated rapidly, as a result of coal mining and its associated communities. The river was unable to sustain life, and by 1974, was the most polluted of the rivers that are part of the River Don catchment. The pollutants came from coking plants, inefficient sewage treatment plants, and the manufacture of chemicals. Major investment in upgrading the sewage treatment works took place, and in the treatment of industrial effluent before it was discharged to the river. The closure of the main coking plants has also aided the recovery of the river, and enabled restocking with fish to begin in 1994. By 1996, there was evidence that the fish populations were self-sustaining, and the river is now a venue for organised angling.
A short section of the river in Chesterfield was once navigable, and may become so again as part of a development project, while there are plans to use the course from Rother Valley Country Park to Rotherham for the Rother Link
, which would connect the Chesterfield Canal to the River Don Navigation
. The lower river is managed because of flood risk, and there are three regulators which can be used to restrict the flow. Their operation normally causes flooding of washlands, rather than centres of population, which might otherwise be inundated.
in Derbyshire
, from where it flows to the west for a short distance, before turning to the north. The valley is shared with the Derby to Rotherham Railway, which makes the first two of a total of 20 crossings before the river reaches the eastern edges of Danesmoor. It is joined by another stream before passing to the west of North Wingfield
, after which the Red Lead Mill Brook joins from the west. Before reaching Chesterfield, Birdholme Brook joins it from the west at Birdholme, Calow Brook joins from the east at Hady, and the River Hipper
joins it on the southern edge of the town.
Within Chesterfield, the river was navigable, as the Chesterfield Canal
joined the river and used it to access basins on the western bank. The first basin was connected to the river near Wharf Lane footbridge, but the coming of the railway severed the link, and a new basin was constructed to the north of the Brimington Road bridge in 1890. The canal company were not authorised by their Act of Parliament
to use the river, but did so despite that. This stretch of the river forms part of a £300 million redevelopment project called Chesterfield Waterside, which will provide housing and amenities in an area which is currently derelict land. The project involves the creation of a short length of new canal to create an island in the centre of the site. A new basin has been constructed near the site of the 1890 basin, although it has not yet been connected to the river. Outline planning permission for the whole site was granted on 15 March 2010.
Between Chesterfield and Tapton, the river flows over a large weir while the canal is protected from flooding by a flood gate. The two waterways remain close as they flow northwards between New Whittington and Brimington
, where the River Drone
joins from the west. At Old Whittington
both turn to the east, before turning north again at Staveley
. Just before Renishaw
, the river passes Slittingmill Farm, once the site of a slitting mill constructed by George Sitwell in the 1650s, used to split iron bars from his furnaces into thin strips for the production of nails, and the first to be constructed in the East Midlands. After the River Doe Lea
joins the Rother from the east, the river is crossed by a grade II listed two-arched bridge built around 1840 by the North Midland Railway
, which carries a minor road to the golf course. It continues to the east of Eckington
and the west of Killamarsh
, to arrive at the Rother Valley Country Park
, where the course is largely man-made, as the park is part of a flood-defence scheme. The river was diverted to run close to the railway to the west while 1.7 million tonnes of coal from the reserves under the park were removed by open cast mining between 1976 and 1981. The channel was then rebuilt once mining had ceased and the pit had been filled in. The visitor centre uses a part of Bedgrave Mill, which was constructed around 1100, and is one of the first mills known to have been built on the River Don and its tributaries. Continuing northwards, the river passes through the Sheffield
districts of Beighton
and Woodhouse
, followed by the Rotherham districts of Catcliffe
and Treeton
, flowing on to its confluence
with the River Don at Ickles, Rotherham.
Some sections of the river were highly polluted, so much so that when the Rother Valley Country Park
was being created around the section north of Killamarsh and east of Beighton, cleaner water was brought in from the Moss Brook to feed the park's lakes. The recent closures of industry and the work of the Environment Agency
has improved the quality of the river Rother. The watercourse now holds a good head of coarse fish, and angling clubs are springing up along its length.
The planned Rother Link
canal will use part of the river to connect the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
to the Chesterfield Canal
.
to mitigate flooding in the Catcliffe and Rotherham areas, through a series of regulators and washlands. The regulators are used to hold back the flow of the river, and the washlands consist of low-lying land adjacent to the river which flood when the flows are held back. This allows flood flows on the River Don to pass through Rotherham before the water from the Rother does so. There are three regulators, at Canklow, Woodhouse Mill and Meadowgate.
Prior to 1958, flooding was a persistent problem near the lower reaches of the river, with Beighton, Catcliffe, Treeton and Woodhouse Mill particularly at risk. When the River Rother Improvement Scheme was first proposed in September 1958, analysis of flood flows revealed that peaks flows on the Rother generally reached the River Don at Rotherham after the peak flow on that river had already passed. Enlarging the channel of the Rother would have resulted in the peak flows reaching the Don earlier, effectively moving the problem of flooding downstream to Rotherham. The scheme therefore recognised the need to create and manage washlands to hold back the excess flow under these conditions.
The first regulator to be installed was at Woodhouse Mill. It is a vertical sluice gate, and is situated at the downstream end of the Woodhouse Mill washlands nature reserve. A railway embankment crosses the nature reserve, and flood arches allow the water to flood both sides of the tracks. There are no floodbacks between the river and the reserve, which results in it flooding soon after the gate is closed. The mechanism here was manufactured by Ransomes and Rapier in 1956, and the regulator was commissioned in 1959. The Canklow regulator, situated close to the A630 link road from junction 33 on the M1 motorway
, is also a vertical sluice gate, which when closed causes progressive flooding of seven washland areas on both sides of the M1, capable of holding 1520500 cubic metres (53,695,950 cu ft) of flood water. It was installed in 1969 as part of a major road-building project, which saw the M1 motorway and the A630 road built across the washlands.
The third regulator is at Meadowgate, within the boundaries of the Rother Valley Country Park
. This provides an additional 1100000 cubic metres (38,846,132.8 cu ft) of storage capacity. and its operation results in progressive flooding of the Meadowgate Lake, the Nethermoor Lake and the main lakes. Levels within the park were carefully designed to allow it to flood in this way, and there are a number of sluices and flap gates so that stored water can be released back to the river in a controlled fashion. The regulator is of a different design to the other two, as the gate is located on the bed of the river, and rotates upwards as required. The regulator was operated in 2000, resulting in the Meadowgate and Nethermoor lake flooding, but water levels remained around 1 feet (30.5 cm) below the level at which the main lakes would flood.
The severe floods of 2007 were the result of some 80 million cubic metres of rainfall falling on South Yorkshire
on 25 June 2007. The level of the River Rother at Rotherham reached the highest level ever recorded, at 5.71 metres (18.7 ft), and the regulators were manned 24 hours a day in order to manage the water. However, there was a power failure at Canklow regulator, and the site had to be evacuated due to the threat posed by the possible breaching of the dam at Ulley Reservoir
. The Meadowgate regulator was closed, and resulted in all four of the Rother Valley Country Park lakes flooding within the next 12 hours. Most of the car park and the watersports centre was also flooded, but water levels dropped over the next three days and little damage was caused. Assessment following those floods has led the Environment Agency to conclude that the regulators are expensive to maintain, and that they should be removed once some of the flood banks have been remodelled to ensure that the washlands fill and empty at the correct levels in a flood cycle.
, roach and perch
were caught by fishermen who fished from its banks. It was also one of the main sources of salmon
for the River Don system. The river did not suffer from the worst effects of the industrial revolution until the 1880s, when the development of coal mining on several of its tributaries resulting in a rapid deterioration in water quality. The industry itself discharge minewater to the river, which contained large volumes of solids, which were deposited on the river bed, smothering the vegetation. The villages which grew up around the mines often had little or no sewage treatment facilities, and hence sewage found its way into the river. The River Doe Lea
, the River Drone
and the Pools Brook became lifeless sewers, as did the Rother. Derbyshire County Council obtained a ruling from the Chesterfield County Court in 1905, which required local authorities to stop polluting the river, and gave them three years to construct sewage treatment works. However, the growth in population outstripped the efforts to resolve these issues, and the river continued to deteriorate. One or two of its tributaries were not polluted, and the River Hipper
retained stocks of brown trout
and grayling
.
In 1974, the river was the most heavily polluted of the rivers in the River Don catchment. For most of its course, it was rated "Grade F" on the Environment Agency's scale of river quality. This scale ranges from "Grade A", which indicates that the water quality is very good and the river is unpolluted, to "Grade F", which indicates that the water quality is bad, and there is little or no life to be found in the water. The main sources of pollution were from coking plants, where coal was carbonised, from discharges from inefficient sewage treatment plants, and from the manufacture of chemicals.
The catchment area of the river is industrial and urban, and was the location for 48 sewage treatment works, the discharges from which fed into the river. Of these, eleven were deemed to be unsatisfactory in 1974, and a program of rationalisation and improvement had reduced the number of works to 29 by 1996. Those closed included all of the unsatisfactory ones. Many of the remaining works are small, but the three major ones are located at Old Whittington, Staveley and Woodhouse Mill. Major upgrading of the Old Whittington sewage treatment works was carried out in the late 1980s and again in 1993, and has included the addition of a nitrification
plant to remove ammonia
from the effluent. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in water quality since 1993. Staveley works was built in 1993, and also includes a nitrification plant, while Woodhouse Mill works was commissioned in 1979, and replaced a number of poorly-performing smaller works to the south-east of Sheffield.
The river was also affected by discharges from the Staveley Chemicals and the Coalite Chemicals
sites. Staveley Chemicals were producing chlorine
and sodium hydroxide by electrolysing brine
, and the water discharged from the site contained significant quantities of mercury
and ammonia. Mercury in particular is highly toxic to fish even in small concentrations, and in 1987, the works was discharging around 51 pounds (23.1 kg) per year into the river. The works, which was taken over by Rhône-Poulenc
Chemicals, was fitted with a mercury recovery plant, and now virtually no mercury is discharged. The Coalite site was manufacturing chemicals from the liquors produced as a by-product of the adjacent coking plant, and was discharging chlorinated compounds into the river. These were treated as part of a scheme to improve the discharges from the coking plant.
Water quality was also affected by four coking plants, at Orgreave
, Brookhouse, Avenue and Coalite. Discharges from them significantly increased the ammonia content and the biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD) of the river. Orgreave was discharging effluent with 146 mg/l of ammonia in 1985, which needed to be around 70 per cent lower to improve the river quality to Grade D, but the plant closed in 1991, and water quality has improved dramatically since. Discharges from Avenue coking plant were diverted into a foul sewer in 1986, to enable them to be treated at Old Whittington treatment works. The plant closed in 1992, but there were problems with phenolic oils leaching from the original storage lagoons into the river for some years after closure. Discharges from the Coalite plant reached the river through its tributary, the River Doe Lea
. Again, there were significant improvements to the treatment of effluent in 1984, 1989 and 1996. Brookhouse was the smallest of the four works, but closed in the early 1980s before remedial works were implemented. The coking plants were the worst polluters of the river, and their closure has resulted in water quality being significantly improved.
A biological survey was carried out in 1993, near Rother Valley Country Park, and only seven types of invertebrates were found, all of which were highly tolerant to pollution. It was recognised that the straight engineered channel where the river had been re-instated after coal mining was not well suited to the support of life, and so a stone weir was constructed, to help with natural aeration of the water, and to increase the flow velocity so that the gravel below the weir was scoured clean. A bay was constructed above the weir, where fish could escape when the river was affected by flooding or pollution incidents. A trial release of fish, funded by contributions from Rhone Poulenc, Coalite Chemicals and Yorkshire Water, was made in April 1994. Half of the total of 2,500 chub
and 2,500 roach were released near the new weir, and the other half at Hall Road in Staveley. It soon became clear from anglers that the fish were spreading along the river, and a further 40,000 fish were released that winter. Another survey in September 1995 revealed good growth rates in the fish, and barbel were thriving. Brown trout
, thought to have come from the River Hipper or the Barlow Brook, were also found in the Rother, and since these are much less tolerant to organic pollution and low oxygen levels, were a clear indicator that conditions were improving. The following year, chub and dace
were released at Old Whittington, and clear evidence that the fish were breeding in the river was found. The river had become a self-sustaining fishery again, and organised angling began for the first time in over 100 years.
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
in the northern midlands of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, after which the town of Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
and the Rother Valley parliamentary constituency are named. It rises near Clay Cross
Clay Cross
Clay Cross is a former mining town and civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, about six miles south of Chesterfield. It is directly on the A61, the former Roman road Ryknield Street...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, and flows through the centre of Chesterfield, where it feeds the Chesterfield Canal
Chesterfield Canal
The Chesterfield Canal is in the north of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was opened in 1777 and ran 46 miles from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire...
. Further downstream, it flows through the Rother Valley Country Park
Rother Valley Country Park
The Rother Valley Country Park is a country park in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, close to its border with Sheffield and Derbyshire. It covers 3 square kilometres and has four artificial lakes...
and several districts of Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, before joining the River Don at Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
.
From the 1880s, the water quality deteriorated rapidly, as a result of coal mining and its associated communities. The river was unable to sustain life, and by 1974, was the most polluted of the rivers that are part of the River Don catchment. The pollutants came from coking plants, inefficient sewage treatment plants, and the manufacture of chemicals. Major investment in upgrading the sewage treatment works took place, and in the treatment of industrial effluent before it was discharged to the river. The closure of the main coking plants has also aided the recovery of the river, and enabled restocking with fish to begin in 1994. By 1996, there was evidence that the fish populations were self-sustaining, and the river is now a venue for organised angling.
A short section of the river in Chesterfield was once navigable, and may become so again as part of a development project, while there are plans to use the course from Rother Valley Country Park to Rotherham for the Rother Link
Rother Link
The Rother Link is a planned English canal that would connect the Chesterfield Canal at Killamarsh, via the River Rother through to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, thus creating a new cruising ring and encouraging boats to visit the Chesterfield Canal.-Proposals:The Rother Link was...
, which would connect the Chesterfield Canal to the River Don Navigation
River Don Navigation
The River Don Navigation was the result of early efforts to make the River Don in South Yorkshire, England, navigable between Fishlake and Sheffield...
. The lower river is managed because of flood risk, and there are three regulators which can be used to restrict the flow. Their operation normally causes flooding of washlands, rather than centres of population, which might otherwise be inundated.
Course
The source of the river is at Pilsley near Clay CrossClay Cross
Clay Cross is a former mining town and civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England, about six miles south of Chesterfield. It is directly on the A61, the former Roman road Ryknield Street...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, from where it flows to the west for a short distance, before turning to the north. The valley is shared with the Derby to Rotherham Railway, which makes the first two of a total of 20 crossings before the river reaches the eastern edges of Danesmoor. It is joined by another stream before passing to the west of North Wingfield
North Wingfield
North Wingfield is a large village in the English county of Derbyshire, located approximately 4½ miles south-east of Chesterfield, and 1 mile north-east of Clay Cross. It is in the North East Derbyshire district...
, after which the Red Lead Mill Brook joins from the west. Before reaching Chesterfield, Birdholme Brook joins it from the west at Birdholme, Calow Brook joins from the east at Hady, and the River Hipper
River Hipper
The River Hipper is a tributary of the River Rother in Derbyshire, England. Its source is a large expanse of wetlands, fed by the surrounding moors between Chatsworth and Chesterfield, known as the Hipper Sick on Beeley Moor which is part of the Chatsworth Estate...
joins it on the southern edge of the town.
Within Chesterfield, the river was navigable, as the Chesterfield Canal
Chesterfield Canal
The Chesterfield Canal is in the north of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was opened in 1777 and ran 46 miles from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire...
joined the river and used it to access basins on the western bank. The first basin was connected to the river near Wharf Lane footbridge, but the coming of the railway severed the link, and a new basin was constructed to the north of the Brimington Road bridge in 1890. The canal company were not authorised by their Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
to use the river, but did so despite that. This stretch of the river forms part of a £300 million redevelopment project called Chesterfield Waterside, which will provide housing and amenities in an area which is currently derelict land. The project involves the creation of a short length of new canal to create an island in the centre of the site. A new basin has been constructed near the site of the 1890 basin, although it has not yet been connected to the river. Outline planning permission for the whole site was granted on 15 March 2010.
Between Chesterfield and Tapton, the river flows over a large weir while the canal is protected from flooding by a flood gate. The two waterways remain close as they flow northwards between New Whittington and Brimington
Brimington
Brimington is a civil parish within the borough of Chesterfield in north-east Derbyshire, England. The town of Staveley is to the east, and Hollingwood is nearby...
, where the River Drone
River Drone
The River Drone is a river which flows south from its source on the Sheffield, South Yorkshire border. It flows through Dronfield, Unstone and Unstone Green in Derbyshire before merging at Sheepbridge to the north of Chesterfield with the Barlow Brook. It then flows south east till it merges with...
joins from the west. At Old Whittington
Old Whittington
Old Whittington is a village in Derbyshire and north of Chesterfield and is/ south-east of Sheffield. The village lies on the River Rother....
both turn to the east, before turning north again at Staveley
Staveley, Derbyshire
Staveley is a town within the borough of Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, England. The town is situated alongside the River Rother, adjacent to Eckington to the north, Barlborough to the east, Sutton-cum-Duckmanton civil parish to the south and Brimington to the west.-History:It has traditionally been...
. Just before Renishaw
Renishaw, Derbyshire
Renishaw is a village in the district of North East Derbyshire in England.Renishaw lies on the A6135 between the villages of Eckington and Barlborough. To the west of the village is a section of the Trans Pennine Trail long distance footpath which runs along a former railway line. Adjacent to this...
, the river passes Slittingmill Farm, once the site of a slitting mill constructed by George Sitwell in the 1650s, used to split iron bars from his furnaces into thin strips for the production of nails, and the first to be constructed in the East Midlands. After the River Doe Lea
River Doe Lea
The River Doe Lea is a river which flows near Glapwell and Doe Lea in Derbyshire, England. The river eventually joins the River Rother near Renishaw. The river contained 1000 times the safe level of dioxins in 1991, according to a statement made by Dennis Skinner, in the House of Commons in 1992...
joins the Rother from the east, the river is crossed by a grade II listed two-arched bridge built around 1840 by the North Midland Railway
North Midland Railway
The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham and Leeds in 1840.At Derby it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station...
, which carries a minor road to the golf course. It continues to the east of Eckington
Eckington, Derbyshire
Eckington is a town in North East Derbyshire, 7 miles north of Chesterfield and 8.5 miles south of Sheffield on the border with South Yorkshire.Eckington has a population of 11,152....
and the west of Killamarsh
Killamarsh
Killamarsh is a town in North East Derbyshire. It borders South Yorkshire to its north and west. It lies between Halfway and Mosborough to the west, Renishaw to the south, Beighton and Sothall to the northwest, Wales to the northeast, Harthill to its east and the Rother Valley Country Park to its...
, to arrive at the Rother Valley Country Park
Rother Valley Country Park
The Rother Valley Country Park is a country park in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, close to its border with Sheffield and Derbyshire. It covers 3 square kilometres and has four artificial lakes...
, where the course is largely man-made, as the park is part of a flood-defence scheme. The river was diverted to run close to the railway to the west while 1.7 million tonnes of coal from the reserves under the park were removed by open cast mining between 1976 and 1981. The channel was then rebuilt once mining had ceased and the pit had been filled in. The visitor centre uses a part of Bedgrave Mill, which was constructed around 1100, and is one of the first mills known to have been built on the River Don and its tributaries. Continuing northwards, the river passes through the Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
districts of Beighton
Beighton
Beighton ward —which includes the districts of Beighton, Hackenthorpe, Owlthorpe, and Sothall—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the eastern part of the city, on the border with Rotherham and covers an area of 5.7 km2...
and Woodhouse
Woodhouse, South Yorkshire
Woodhouse ward—which includes the district of Woodhouse and most of Handsworth—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the southeastern part of the city and covers an area of 7 km2. The population of this ward in 2001 was 17,900 people in...
, followed by the Rotherham districts of Catcliffe
Catcliffe
Catcliffe is a village and civil parish on the north-west bank of the River Rother in South Yorkshire, England. It is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, about south of the town of Rotherham and east of Sheffield City Centre.-History:...
and Treeton
Treeton
Treeton is a village and civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is located about south of the town of Rotherham and east of Sheffield City Centre.-History:...
, flowing on to its confluence
Confluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
with the River Don at Ickles, Rotherham.
Some sections of the river were highly polluted, so much so that when the Rother Valley Country Park
Rother Valley Country Park
The Rother Valley Country Park is a country park in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, close to its border with Sheffield and Derbyshire. It covers 3 square kilometres and has four artificial lakes...
was being created around the section north of Killamarsh and east of Beighton, cleaner water was brought in from the Moss Brook to feed the park's lakes. The recent closures of industry and the work of the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
has improved the quality of the river Rother. The watercourse now holds a good head of coarse fish, and angling clubs are springing up along its length.
The planned Rother Link
Rother Link
The Rother Link is a planned English canal that would connect the Chesterfield Canal at Killamarsh, via the River Rother through to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation, thus creating a new cruising ring and encouraging boats to visit the Chesterfield Canal.-Proposals:The Rother Link was...
canal will use part of the river to connect the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation is a system of navigable inland waterways in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England....
to the Chesterfield Canal
Chesterfield Canal
The Chesterfield Canal is in the north of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was opened in 1777 and ran 46 miles from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire...
.
Flood defences
The River Rother is managed by the Environment AgencyEnvironment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
to mitigate flooding in the Catcliffe and Rotherham areas, through a series of regulators and washlands. The regulators are used to hold back the flow of the river, and the washlands consist of low-lying land adjacent to the river which flood when the flows are held back. This allows flood flows on the River Don to pass through Rotherham before the water from the Rother does so. There are three regulators, at Canklow, Woodhouse Mill and Meadowgate.
Prior to 1958, flooding was a persistent problem near the lower reaches of the river, with Beighton, Catcliffe, Treeton and Woodhouse Mill particularly at risk. When the River Rother Improvement Scheme was first proposed in September 1958, analysis of flood flows revealed that peaks flows on the Rother generally reached the River Don at Rotherham after the peak flow on that river had already passed. Enlarging the channel of the Rother would have resulted in the peak flows reaching the Don earlier, effectively moving the problem of flooding downstream to Rotherham. The scheme therefore recognised the need to create and manage washlands to hold back the excess flow under these conditions.
The first regulator to be installed was at Woodhouse Mill. It is a vertical sluice gate, and is situated at the downstream end of the Woodhouse Mill washlands nature reserve. A railway embankment crosses the nature reserve, and flood arches allow the water to flood both sides of the tracks. There are no floodbacks between the river and the reserve, which results in it flooding soon after the gate is closed. The mechanism here was manufactured by Ransomes and Rapier in 1956, and the regulator was commissioned in 1959. The Canklow regulator, situated close to the A630 link road from junction 33 on the M1 motorway
M1 motorway
The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...
, is also a vertical sluice gate, which when closed causes progressive flooding of seven washland areas on both sides of the M1, capable of holding 1520500 cubic metres (53,695,950 cu ft) of flood water. It was installed in 1969 as part of a major road-building project, which saw the M1 motorway and the A630 road built across the washlands.
The third regulator is at Meadowgate, within the boundaries of the Rother Valley Country Park
Rother Valley Country Park
The Rother Valley Country Park is a country park in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, close to its border with Sheffield and Derbyshire. It covers 3 square kilometres and has four artificial lakes...
. This provides an additional 1100000 cubic metres (38,846,132.8 cu ft) of storage capacity. and its operation results in progressive flooding of the Meadowgate Lake, the Nethermoor Lake and the main lakes. Levels within the park were carefully designed to allow it to flood in this way, and there are a number of sluices and flap gates so that stored water can be released back to the river in a controlled fashion. The regulator is of a different design to the other two, as the gate is located on the bed of the river, and rotates upwards as required. The regulator was operated in 2000, resulting in the Meadowgate and Nethermoor lake flooding, but water levels remained around 1 feet (30.5 cm) below the level at which the main lakes would flood.
The severe floods of 2007 were the result of some 80 million cubic metres of rainfall falling on South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
on 25 June 2007. The level of the River Rother at Rotherham reached the highest level ever recorded, at 5.71 metres (18.7 ft), and the regulators were manned 24 hours a day in order to manage the water. However, there was a power failure at Canklow regulator, and the site had to be evacuated due to the threat posed by the possible breaching of the dam at Ulley Reservoir
Ulley Reservoir
Ulley Reservoir is a reservoir located a few hundred metres to the west and downhill of the village of Ulley, south of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England...
. The Meadowgate regulator was closed, and resulted in all four of the Rother Valley Country Park lakes flooding within the next 12 hours. Most of the car park and the watersports centre was also flooded, but water levels dropped over the next three days and little damage was caused. Assessment following those floods has led the Environment Agency to conclude that the regulators are expensive to maintain, and that they should be removed once some of the flood banks have been remodelled to ensure that the washlands fill and empty at the correct levels in a flood cycle.
Water quality
Laman Blanchard, writing in 1836, described the Rother as "a beauteous stream", and noted that chubSqualius
Squalius is a ray-finned fish genus in the family Cyprinidae, containing the European chubs . This genus belongs to the subfamily Leuciscinae as other chubs and daces generally do....
, roach and perch
Perch
Perch is a common name for fish of the genus Perca, freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which there are three species in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Perciformes, from the Greek perke meaning spotted, and the...
were caught by fishermen who fished from its banks. It was also one of the main sources of salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
for the River Don system. The river did not suffer from the worst effects of the industrial revolution until the 1880s, when the development of coal mining on several of its tributaries resulting in a rapid deterioration in water quality. The industry itself discharge minewater to the river, which contained large volumes of solids, which were deposited on the river bed, smothering the vegetation. The villages which grew up around the mines often had little or no sewage treatment facilities, and hence sewage found its way into the river. The River Doe Lea
River Doe Lea
The River Doe Lea is a river which flows near Glapwell and Doe Lea in Derbyshire, England. The river eventually joins the River Rother near Renishaw. The river contained 1000 times the safe level of dioxins in 1991, according to a statement made by Dennis Skinner, in the House of Commons in 1992...
, the River Drone
River Drone
The River Drone is a river which flows south from its source on the Sheffield, South Yorkshire border. It flows through Dronfield, Unstone and Unstone Green in Derbyshire before merging at Sheepbridge to the north of Chesterfield with the Barlow Brook. It then flows south east till it merges with...
and the Pools Brook became lifeless sewers, as did the Rother. Derbyshire County Council obtained a ruling from the Chesterfield County Court in 1905, which required local authorities to stop polluting the river, and gave them three years to construct sewage treatment works. However, the growth in population outstripped the efforts to resolve these issues, and the river continued to deteriorate. One or two of its tributaries were not polluted, and the River Hipper
River Hipper
The River Hipper is a tributary of the River Rother in Derbyshire, England. Its source is a large expanse of wetlands, fed by the surrounding moors between Chatsworth and Chesterfield, known as the Hipper Sick on Beeley Moor which is part of the Chatsworth Estate...
retained stocks of brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
and grayling
Grayling (species)
The grayling is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is the type species of its genus. Native to the Palearctic ecozone, the grayling is widespread throughout northern Europe, from the United Kingdom and France to the Ural Mountains in Russia...
.
In 1974, the river was the most heavily polluted of the rivers in the River Don catchment. For most of its course, it was rated "Grade F" on the Environment Agency's scale of river quality. This scale ranges from "Grade A", which indicates that the water quality is very good and the river is unpolluted, to "Grade F", which indicates that the water quality is bad, and there is little or no life to be found in the water. The main sources of pollution were from coking plants, where coal was carbonised, from discharges from inefficient sewage treatment plants, and from the manufacture of chemicals.
The catchment area of the river is industrial and urban, and was the location for 48 sewage treatment works, the discharges from which fed into the river. Of these, eleven were deemed to be unsatisfactory in 1974, and a program of rationalisation and improvement had reduced the number of works to 29 by 1996. Those closed included all of the unsatisfactory ones. Many of the remaining works are small, but the three major ones are located at Old Whittington, Staveley and Woodhouse Mill. Major upgrading of the Old Whittington sewage treatment works was carried out in the late 1980s and again in 1993, and has included the addition of a nitrification
Nitrification
Nitrification is the biological oxidation of ammonia with oxygen into nitrite followed by the oxidation of these nitrites into nitrates. Degradation of ammonia to nitrite is usually the rate limiting step of nitrification. Nitrification is an important step in the nitrogen cycle in soil...
plant to remove ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
from the effluent. This has resulted in a dramatic increase in water quality since 1993. Staveley works was built in 1993, and also includes a nitrification plant, while Woodhouse Mill works was commissioned in 1979, and replaced a number of poorly-performing smaller works to the south-east of Sheffield.
The river was also affected by discharges from the Staveley Chemicals and the Coalite Chemicals
Coalite
Coalite is a brand of low-temperature coke used as a smokeless fuel. The title refers to the residue left behind when coal is carbonised at 640 degrees Celsius. It was invented by Thomas Parker in 1904. In 1936 the Smoke Abatement Society awarded its inventor a posthumous gold medal.Coalite is...
sites. Staveley Chemicals were producing chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
and sodium hydroxide by electrolysing brine
Chloralkali process
The chloralkali process is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride solution . Depending on the method several products beside hydrogen can be produced. If the products are separated, chlorine and sodium hydroxide are the products; by mixing, sodium hypochlorite or sodium...
, and the water discharged from the site contained significant quantities of mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
and ammonia. Mercury in particular is highly toxic to fish even in small concentrations, and in 1987, the works was discharging around 51 pounds (23.1 kg) per year into the river. The works, which was taken over by Rhône-Poulenc
Rhône-Poulenc
-History of the company:The Company was founded in 1928 through the merger of Société des Usines Chimiques du Rhône from Lyon and Établissements Poulenc Frères from Paris founded by Étienne Poulenc, a 19th century Parisian apothecary and brought to prominence by his second and third sons Emile...
Chemicals, was fitted with a mercury recovery plant, and now virtually no mercury is discharged. The Coalite site was manufacturing chemicals from the liquors produced as a by-product of the adjacent coking plant, and was discharging chlorinated compounds into the river. These were treated as part of a scheme to improve the discharges from the coking plant.
Water quality was also affected by four coking plants, at Orgreave
Orgreave, South Yorkshire
Orgreave is a village and civil parish in South Yorkshire, England.At the time of the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 761.Orgreave forms part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham; until 1974, it was part of the Rotherham Rural District, the town of Rotherham being to the...
, Brookhouse, Avenue and Coalite. Discharges from them significantly increased the ammonia content and the biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand
Biochemical oxygen demand or B.O.D. is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period. The term also refers to a chemical procedure for...
(BOD) of the river. Orgreave was discharging effluent with 146 mg/l of ammonia in 1985, which needed to be around 70 per cent lower to improve the river quality to Grade D, but the plant closed in 1991, and water quality has improved dramatically since. Discharges from Avenue coking plant were diverted into a foul sewer in 1986, to enable them to be treated at Old Whittington treatment works. The plant closed in 1992, but there were problems with phenolic oils leaching from the original storage lagoons into the river for some years after closure. Discharges from the Coalite plant reached the river through its tributary, the River Doe Lea
River Doe Lea
The River Doe Lea is a river which flows near Glapwell and Doe Lea in Derbyshire, England. The river eventually joins the River Rother near Renishaw. The river contained 1000 times the safe level of dioxins in 1991, according to a statement made by Dennis Skinner, in the House of Commons in 1992...
. Again, there were significant improvements to the treatment of effluent in 1984, 1989 and 1996. Brookhouse was the smallest of the four works, but closed in the early 1980s before remedial works were implemented. The coking plants were the worst polluters of the river, and their closure has resulted in water quality being significantly improved.
A biological survey was carried out in 1993, near Rother Valley Country Park, and only seven types of invertebrates were found, all of which were highly tolerant to pollution. It was recognised that the straight engineered channel where the river had been re-instated after coal mining was not well suited to the support of life, and so a stone weir was constructed, to help with natural aeration of the water, and to increase the flow velocity so that the gravel below the weir was scoured clean. A bay was constructed above the weir, where fish could escape when the river was affected by flooding or pollution incidents. A trial release of fish, funded by contributions from Rhone Poulenc, Coalite Chemicals and Yorkshire Water, was made in April 1994. Half of the total of 2,500 chub
Squalius
Squalius is a ray-finned fish genus in the family Cyprinidae, containing the European chubs . This genus belongs to the subfamily Leuciscinae as other chubs and daces generally do....
and 2,500 roach were released near the new weir, and the other half at Hall Road in Staveley. It soon became clear from anglers that the fish were spreading along the river, and a further 40,000 fish were released that winter. Another survey in September 1995 revealed good growth rates in the fish, and barbel were thriving. Brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
, thought to have come from the River Hipper or the Barlow Brook, were also found in the Rother, and since these are much less tolerant to organic pollution and low oxygen levels, were a clear indicator that conditions were improving. The following year, chub and dace
Common dace
The common dace , also known as the dace or the Eurasian dace, is a fresh- or brackish-water fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It is an inhabitant of the rivers and streams of Europe north of the Alps as well as in Asia. It is most abundant in France and Germany, and has also spread to...
were released at Old Whittington, and clear evidence that the fish were breeding in the river was found. The river had become a self-sustaining fishery again, and organised angling began for the first time in over 100 years.