River Don History

The Blue Loop project connects the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal with the nearby River Don. The Don passes through Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster, amongst other towns in South Yorkshire. The stretch of the Don that comprises one half of the Blue Loop runs from Lady’s Bridge in the City Centre to Tinsley, near to Meadowhall. In prehistoric times, the river would have been a loose network of meandering channels, pools and marshes; but human habitation brought alterations to the landscape, pushing back the edges of the waters and converting riverside wetlands into fertile meadows.

The Don originally joined the River Trent, but was re-engineered by Cornelius Vermuyden to join the River Ouse in the early seventeenth century. This development greatly aided industrial production through the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries by enabling the passage of coal barges along the Don to the Ouse, and ultimately to the North Sea and the international market. The river was once known as a successful salmon fishery, but industrial pollution followed the growth of the steel mills, and salmon stocks dwindled as the river became contaminated.

Industrial traffic declined following the construction of railroads in the area in the 1870s; however, little money was available for the restoration of the waterways until the late twentieth century. Since the decline of industry in the area and subsequent ecological restoration work (largely undertaken by the Five Weirs Walk Trust), the river has seen a marked recovery in biodiversity, with salmon returning to the Don after a long absence. By the 1980s, herons, kingfishers, and even red deer had all returned to the banks of the River Don. In recent years, the Don has become best known for its propensity to flood, with the floods of 2007 being only the most recent time that the river has burst its banks. The 2007 floods briefly upset the ecological balance in the area, as well as making it difficult to gain access to certain stretches of the waterways. Access to the waterways has now been almost completely restored—although some areas of the river are still being repaired and redeveloped (near Lady’s Bridge, for instance) or are closed at dusk.