Shire Brook

Shire Brook‘s source is a spring beneath the Red Lion public house at Gleadless Townend.

Shire Brookis a smallstreamin the south eastern part of theCity of SheffieldinSouth Yorkshire,England. It rises in the suburb of Gleadless Townend and flows in a general easterly direction for 4 miles (6.5 km) to its confluence with theRiver RotherbetweenBeightonandWoodhouse Mill.In the past the brook has been both the border of Yorkshire and Derbyshire and between theseesofCanterburyandYork.The course of the stream has been influenced by human intervention in the 20th century with the brook being diverted underground and flowing throughculvertson three occasions as it traverses locations which were formerlylandfillsites and extensive railway sidings.

Course

Shire Brook rises as an undergroundspringat a height of 630 feet (192 m) above sea level beneath the Red Lionpublic housein the Gleadless Townend residential area at53.3447°N 1.4256°W/53.3447; -1.4256.The Brook runs in aculvertfrom beneath the public house before emerging into the open on land between Seagrave Crescent and Lister Crescent. It initially flows NE going beneath housing to emerge on the Jaunty Park recreation and sports grounds as an insignificant and rubbish strewn stream running at the rear of the Birley Vale Industrial Estate. It is then joined by an unnamed stream which originates from a spring in Hollinsend Park. After 1 mile (1.5 km) it passes under the A6135 (Birley Moor Road) and swings easterly, disappearing underground, as it flows for almost 0.6 miles (1 km) through a culvert beneath the formerNormanton Springlandfill site which has now been landscaped and planted with trees. The brook emerges and continues its journey east going through Wickfield Heath and under theA57 road(Mosborough Parkway) before flowing through theShire Brook Valley Local Nature Reserveon the northern side of the A57.

At this point the brook receives its only sizeable tributary, an unnamed stream which rises atBirley Spaat a height of 330 feet (100 m) above sea level, flowing NE down a gorge for a kilometre to the Shire Brook valley. The Shire Brook then disappears underground again as it runs beneath the former Beighton Road landfill site just to the north of Beighton before entering an area ofwetlandrich in bird life known as Beighton Marsh. The final 220 yards (200 m) of Shire Brook’s journey before it joins the Rother is again through an underground culvert beneath the site of the former Woodhouse Junction railwaysidingswhich is now disusedbrownfield landwhich was being considered byNetwork Railas a location for a new National Engineering Centre before plans were rejected in April 2008.Shire Brook enters the River Rother at a height of 121 feet (37 m) above sea level at approximately53.3562°N 1.3394°W/53.3562; -1.3394.

Carr Forge Dam is a haven for animals and plants. The houses of Woodhouse are in the background.

History

Ancient boundary

Shire Brook has been an important boundary line for over a thousand years. InAnglo-Saxontimes the Brook formed the boundary between the kingdoms ofMerciaandNorthumbria.For 900 years the Brook marked the division betweenYorkshireandDerbyshire,which gave the Brook its name. It was also known informally as County Brook and Der Brook, Der being short for Derbyshire. Another alternative name for the brook wasOchreDike, due to the run off from mines in the valley which made the water a yellow brown colour.

In 1967 the City of Sheffield expanded its borders south to take in the suburbs ofHackenthorpeandMosboroughand the Brook no longer marked the frontier between the two counties. The Brook also marks the boundary between the Ecclesiastical provinces ofYorkandCanterbury.

Former industry

Up to the early 18th century the Shire Brook valley was mostly an agricultural area. However sustained industrial development came into the valley at the start of the 18th century and actually started inTudortimes when Christopher Chapman was producing cutlery at Carr Forge in the mid-16th century.

Like many of Sheffield’s water courses, the Shire Brook’s water power was harnessed for turningwater wheelsfor industry before the coming of steam and electricity. During the 19th century there were five wheels operating in the valley producing power to sharpenscythesandsickles.Several of the small mill ponds that once fed the water wheels still exist along the course of the river. The Upper and Lower Sickle wheels were in the Normanton Spring area, about 1 mile (1.5 km) from the Brook’s source. Further downstream were Carr Forge and Rainbow Forge while the Cliff Wheel was located just under 1,100 yards (1 km) from the Brooks confluence with the River Rother. Notable owners and users of these wheels were the Staniforth family that ran theThomas Staniforth & Cosickleworks in Hackenthorpe. The dam at Rainbow Forge no longer holds water and its embankments and stonework are difficult to find amongst the undergrowth. Carr Forge Dam is the best preserved area of water in the valley although its wheel and cottages have now vanished. The site of the Lower Sickle Wheel (also known asNether Wheel) was excavated in 1988 revealing the foundations of the mill buildings and the pits which held the grinding wheels.

Small scalecoal miningtook place in the valley from the early 18th century, however it was not until the opening of theBirley Collieriesthat large amounts of coal were extracted. Birley West Colliery was located just to the south of Normanton Spring, production lasted from 1855 until 1908. Birley East, situated between Hackenthorpe and Woodhouse opened in 1888 and operated until 1948. Shire Brook was culverted under both locations which became landfill sites when the pits closed. Both landfill sites have been capped off and landscaped in recent years.

Shire Brook as it runs through the nature reserve. The stream from Birley Spa flows in on the left.

Shire Brook Valley Local Nature Reserve

Main article:Shire Brook Valley Local Nature Reserve

The Shire Brook ValleyLocal Nature Reservewas established in 1999 and extends over an area of approximately 100 hectares. The reserve is based around the former site of the Coisley Hill Sewage Works which closed in the early 1990s. The managers office has been converted into a visitors centre. The reserve includes Beighton Marsh, an area of reed-grass swamp, situated at its eastern end, which supports birds such asreed bunting,grasshopper warblerandbarn owl,as well as mammals such asharvest mouseandwater vole.TheBirley SpaBath House, a grade IIlisted buildingwas restored with aHeritage Lottery Fundgrant in 2001.Also within the reserve is Wickfield Plantation, one of the few remaining areas of lowlandheathandcoppicedoakwoodland inside Sheffield. The Reserve contain Carr Forge Dam which is fed by the stream which comes down from Birley Spa and is a valuable location for wildlife. New ponds were created in the same area in 1993 to mark the centenary of the City of Sheffield. The Centenary Ponds were opened byClive Bettson 18 June 1993.

Pollution

The Shire Brook was heavily polluted for many years, asstorm drainoverflow took raw sewage into the brook and then into theRiver Rotherwhich was known as one of the most polluted rivers in Europe in the early 1990s. In 2005/6 much work was done to control the overflow with several storm flow storage tanks built in the Shire Brook valley.Yorkshire Waterwere fined £5,000 plus costs when pumps failed at the Linley Bank Sewage Pumping Station, Hackenthorpe on 30 and 31 March 2006 allowing untreated sewage to affect an 870-yard (800 m) stretch of the brook.