River Rother, South Yorkshire

River Rother
The river at Staveley
Location
Country	England
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Pilsley, Derbyshire
Mouth
• location	River Don, Rotherham
Length	26.9 miles (43.3 km)

v t e River Rother, South Yorkshire
Legend
River Don Navigation Junction with River Don A6021, Central Rotherham A630 Centenary Way A631 Bawtry Road Canklow regulator A630 Rother Way Ulley Brook M1 motorway Treeton Lane Orgreave weir Sheffield Road Woodhouse Mill regulator Sheffield - Lincoln Railway Shire Brook (culverted) A57 Handsworth Bypass Rotherham Road, Beighton Beighton weir Rotherham - Chesterfield Railway Pigeon Bridge Brook Meadowgate Regulator County Dike Rother Valley Country Park Short Brook B6058 Killamarsh Killamarsh weir Rotherham to Chesterfield Rly bridge The Moss Park Brook Rotherham to Chesterfield Rly bridge Smithy Brook A6135 Renishaw (2) Railway bridges River Doe Lea Rotherham to Chesterfield Rly B6053 (4) Railway bridges Chesterfield Canal River Drone B6050 Old River Bridge Railway bridges A619 Chesterfield Road Flood gate Chesterfield Weir Chesterfield Basin (no lock) B6543 Brimington Road Chesterfield to Derby Rly A632 Hady Hill River Hipper Spital Brook A617 bridge Railway bridge Birdholme Brook Railway bridge Red Lead Mill Brook (3) Railway bridges North Wingfield weir Railway bridge A6175 bridge Locko Brook (2) Railway bridges Pilsley spring

The River Rother, a waterway in the northern midlands of England, gives its name to the town of Rotherham and to the Rother Valley parliamentary constituency. It rises in Pilsley in Derbyshire and flows in a generally northwards direction through the centre of Chesterfield, where it feeds the Chesterfield Canal, and on through the Rother Valley Country Park and several districts of Sheffield before joining the River Don at Rotherham in Yorkshire. Historically, it powered mills, mainly corn or flour mills, but most had ceased to operate by the early 20th century, and few of the mill buildings survive.

From the 1880s, the water quality deteriorated rapidly, as a result of coal mining and its associated communities. The river became unable to sustain life, and by 1974, was the most polluted of the rivers within the River Don catchment. The pollutants came from coking plants, from inefficient sewage treatment plants, and from the manufacture of chemicals. Major investment in upgrading the sewage treatment works took place, and in the treatment of industrial effluent before it was discharged to the river. The closure of the main coking plants has also aided the recovery of the river, and enabled restocking with fish to begin in 1994. By 1996, there was evidence for self-sustaining fish populations, and that the river could support organised angling.

A short section of the river in Chesterfield was once navigable, and may become so again as part of a development project, while there are plans to use the course from Rother Valley Country Park to Rotherham for the Rother Link, which would connect the Chesterfield Canal to the River Don Navigation. The lower river is managed because of flood risk: three regulators can restrict its flow. Their operation normally causes flooding of washlands, rather than of centres of population, which might otherwise be inundated.