The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust is a local charitable trust, established in 2019 with the aim of improving access to these rivers which are often hidden, unmarked and uncelebrated.

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Beneath this grille the River Sheaf and Porter Brook meet in a dark culvert. This grille is helping bring light back to Sheffield’s Hidden Rivers to encourage the passage of wildlife through our many river corridors.

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Please be aware that the steel grille is an open metal grid. Do not step on it wearing high heeled shoes which may become stuck.

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Around the four sides of the grille are perches on which are inscribed interpretative text and haiku poems, three of which were the winning entries to a competition submitted by school children of all ages and the fourth by Barnsley poet Ian McMillan.

 

The poetry competition was judged by local poets Debjani Chatterjee,

Berlie Doherty, and Ian McMillan 

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These are the poems:

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Now the world will know

We’ve been meeting secretly

Under this platform

Composed by Mantz Yorke

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Hidden underneath

There are two rivers flowing

Secret from our eyes

Composed by Martha Sooklall

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Water deep below

Secrets hidden, waters low

Sheaf and Porter flow

Composed by Samuel Charles aged 11

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The water moving

Just below your feet

Invites you to dance

Composed by Ian McMillan

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The River Sheaf, which gives Sheffield its name, begins 8km away at the confluence of the Totley Brook and Old Hay Brook, which both rise on the moors to the west of the city. These rivers fall 180 metres to where the Sheaf joins the River Don. The Sheaf was used to power 27 water mills for industries including steel, lead and paper production and corn milling. It can still be seen driving a water wheel at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet.

 

Just 350m upstream from here the Sheaf passes into a culvert constructed in the 1860s to carry trains over the river which now flows beneath the Station. 1km downstream from here the Sheaf reappears to join the River Don at Castlegate close to where Sheffield’s medieval castle once stood.

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The platform on which you stand is built on brick, stone and concrete vaults that were constructed in the 1860s to support the station over the River Sheaf and Porter Brook. Before the station was built the area was called ‘The Ponds’ and ‘Sheaf Island’.

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In the 1770’s Bamforth dam was sited on the land in front of the station where a waterwheel powered a tilt hammer at Ponds Forge

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The construction was designed by our engineer and member Ric Bingham.

 

After six years of negotiations and fundraising, this project was achieved through the generous help of the following sponsors:

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Sheffield Town Trust

FirstTransPennine  

Firma-Chrome Ltd

East Midlands Railway

Ove Arup & Partners

Gripple Ltd

The Freshgate Trust Foundation

Outokumpu Ltd

J G Graves Charitable Trust

Sheffield City Council

Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust

Watsons Anodising

South Yorkshire Community Foundation

Steel Line Ltd