Take Me To The Rivers
Time to daylight the lost waters of Sheffield
If a Greek philosopher turned up one day for the Sheffield city centre culvert tour, they’d be keen to point out the impermanence of the river lapping round their sandals.
“You can never step in the same river twice,” they might declare. Or “Everything flows. The only constant in life is change.” That kind of thing.
Of course, this is very true of Sheffield’s namesake river, the Sheaf: as the river’s spokespeople are happy to tell you, the Sheaf has changed from a sewage dump to a tourist attraction in 150 years. And just now, it seems those changes are accelerating.
Last month, I covered my experience of the extreme tourist trips along the urban caverns of the Sheaf run by Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust (SPRT). I found it so overwhelmingly strange that it seems I kind of missed the point: the culvert tour’s ultimate purpose is to do away with the culverts.
So, this follow up post looks at plans to free the Sheaf and Porter from their tunnels, and open up the rivers for us, and wildlife, to enjoy. We also have more photos of what you’ll see when the tours return next summer, a short history of our underground south western rivers, a finder’s guide, and why we should help lighten the darkness.
The full post below is for our lovely full subscribers, all 245+ of them, who have found £4 a month in their digital pockets to bring this magazine to life.
But first, a quick step into the shallows for everyone.
The culvert tours have now finished for the year, not least because our rivers tend to become unpredictable as winter arrives. But the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust are as busy as ever. (You can join them as a lifetime member for £10).
One of their aims is to open up riverside walks and trails along (or near) the River Sheaf and Porter Brook, and their news pages cover their steady progress. Here are some recent highlights and ambitions, heading upstream:
Sheaf Field Park - new development on the former Sheffield castle site will include a park alongside the deculverted Sheaf. The ambition is to find a landscaping method to allow close access to the river. Daylighting of the second section of long lost River Sheaf has just begun.
Station Lightwell - a very long term plan to build a public viewpoint to the river under the station is happening (slowly).
Porter Brook (Yorkshire Artspace to Shoreham Street) - a new developer for a vacant plot here should mean that the trail can continue closer to the river, as intended some time ago.
Porter Brook - (by Mary Street) - a new section of Porter Brook Trail is open, with hopes that the trail will soon continue beside Sylvester Gardens to Matilda Street following representation to landowners and the city council.
Porter Brook (Summerfield Street to Pear Street) - developer of a piece of long vacant land is keen to accommodate a riverside trail along the brook.
River Sheaf (Myrtle Road to Queens Road) - developer working with SPRT to open up access to an existing riverside path.
River Sheaf (Little London Road) - landlords Lavers have initially refused to allow a connecting path alongside the new Yard Ball complex. Lobbying likely to continue.
River Sheaf (Little London Road, near Rydal Road) - new short section open, awaiting opening of adjoining section, along with a connecting short ramp.
River Sheaf (Troutbeck Road, between Tesco and Archer Road) - a recent ruling refused an application to build into space designated for the River Sheaf Walk at the STEPS medical centre, thanks to members of Sheaf & Porter Rivers Trust (SPRT) and Millhouses Ecclesall & Carter Knowle Community Group. Planners now expected to enforce the original decision to open up the trail for public use.
SPRT want to open up the two rivers to daylight as much as possible. Then, some simple work to renaturalise the riverbed, using rocks and planting, provides a viable home for river plants and insects. Birds, amphibians and fish then arrive, to help return urban rivers to something like the state they enjoyed before we plonked an industrial revolution over them.
Daylighted rivers also bring in human visitors, with associated health and mental health benefits, tourism spending, and nice urban environments quickly noticed by businesses and developers.
The rest of this post (with more on the culverts that buried the foul waters of the city’s namesake river, and how to actually find a few more stretches of the urban Sheaf and Porter), is for full members of our social enterprise publication.
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