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WELCOME

Welcome to the website of the Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust.

We are a registered charity, covering the Porter Brook from Hunters Bar down to Sheffield Station and the

River Sheaf from Millhouses Park to the confluence with the River Don at Castlegate.

This website is your place to hear the latest news from the Trust, learn about our many active campaigns to improve the rivers, find maps of the riverside walks, read up on our extensive research and during the summer months,

book our tours.

Key pages

Headline News

River Sheaf Wall Collapse

Oct 10th - Due to heavy rain undercutting foundations a riverside retaining wall has collapsed near Broadfield Road, badly damaging a pedestrian ramp and bridge to Saxon Road.  The Sheffield Antiques Emporium building on Clyde Road has been affected and their upstairs showroom was briefly closed.  Sheffield Council Highways and the Environment agency are assessing the situation.  These ageing retaining walls, dating back to the 19th century are now regularly failing and causing a massive headache for riparian owners, the City Council and Environment Agency.

 NO BOUNDS FESTIVAL 2024:

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"FLOW STATE"

 

Free entry, everyone welcome.     

11 - 13 October 2024 

Friday: 4pm-9pm  Sat-Sun: 10am-4pm

 

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The Trust Celebrates Ten Thousandth Megatron Explorer

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Trust Chair Simon Ogden greeted ten thousandth guest Jane Revill with a case of beers from the Triple Point Brewery, a founding Trust supporter, from whose beer garden on Shoreham Street the tours start and finish.   

 Simon Ogden (chair of the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust, Abtisam Mohamed MP (chair elect of the Castlegate Partnership) and Councillor Ben Miskell (Chair of the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Policy Committee)  stand over the Sheaf Culvert at Exchange Street

GOOD NEWS FROM CASTLEGATE:

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On Tuesday 27th August work starts on the long-awaited first step of‘putting the Sheaf back into Sheffield’ as part of the City Council’s project creating a new park on the site of the former Castle Markets in Castlegate.
The Trust has campaigned for several years to ensure the river is fully uncovered, restored and made visible and accessible. The ‘deculverting’ or daylighting exercise will open up the Sheaf at its confluence with the Don for the first time in over a century. It will then form an important feature in the emerging new park which will also exhibit remains of Sheffield’s thousand year history including its lost castle and later industrial, commercial and residential buildings from the city’s founding site.

The work will allow ‘re-naturalisation’ of the river  including a new rock ramp fish pass over the 1.5 m high Castle Orchard Weir, a vital first step to restoring the biodiversity of the Lower Sheaf.  Access for river stewardship, emergency services and for enjoyment of the river will also be facilitated although details are not yet finalised.
What’s Involved ?
Demolition will be carefully controlled by contractor Keltbray to avoid debris blocking the river channel or causing undue disturbance to the small bat colony which occupies the large adjoining culvert chamber known as ‘the Megatron’.   Concrete slabs will be sawn into manageable blocks and craned out followed by supporting beams over several months in two phases.
How to follow progress?
The best way to follow the progress is to go to the 'Culvertcam'  link on this website and installed by the Sheaf and Porter Trust .
Funding?
The Castle site reclamation and park construction is funded by a £15m grant from the Department of Housing Communities and Local Government plus contributions from South Yorkshire Mayoral Authority and the Environment Agency.  Work on the whole park is programmed to be completed by Spring 2026.

Culvert daylighting underway


After being buried for 108 years  the Sheaf culvert next to Exchange Street is now being carefully uncovered.  The view opposite shows the exposed culvert roof with an excavator carefully avoiding travelling over the weak concrete slab.

The Google earth image below shows the approximate location of the culvert outlined in a blue dashed line.   We're hoping to get you the breakthrough video soon as daylight floods into the river below

Urban Caving!
Tour tickets for August weekends are on sale.    Click below for a link to our Eventbrite:

Share your wildlife sightings

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