River Rother

The River Rother rises near Pilsley in Derbyshire and flows north through Chesterfield, Sheffield and Rotherham before joining the River Don. Along its 30-kilometre course it passes under twenty railway bridges, including one built by the North Midland Railway around 1840. In Chesterfield the river once carried boats to basins on the western bank until the railway cut the link in the late 19th century. The waterway was once so polluted by mining and industry that by 1974 it held no fish, yet investment in sewage works and the closure of coking plants allowed restocking to begin in 1994. By 1996 self-sustaining fish populations returned and organised angling started again. Plans now exist to restore a short navigable section in Chesterfield and to build the Rother Link canal that would join the Chesterfield Canal to the River Don Navigation. The Rother Valley Country Park uses part of the river’s course, rebuilt after open-cast mining removed 1.7 million tonnes of coal between 1976 and 1981. The visitor centre occupies Bedgreave Mill, first built about 1100, while Beighton Mill Tail Goit forms a separate channel lined with ponds and wetland. Anglers now fish for chub, roach, barbel and pike along the cleaner watercourse.