87-608: Wath upon Dearne (shortened to Wath / ˈ w ɒ θ / or often hyphenated) is a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham , South Yorkshire , England, 5 miles (8 km) north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster . It had a population of 11,816 at the 2011 census. It is twinned with Saint-Jean-de-Bournay in France. Wath can be traced to Norman times . It appears in
174-404: A breeding ground for bitterns in due course. After the washlands, the river flows to the north of Wath upon Dearne , and to the south of Bolton on Dearne . The railway to Bolton on Dearne station crosses, after which the river is flanked by the disused Bolton Common tip on the south bank. From the village of Adwick upon Dearne , which is a little further to the south, Harlington Road crosses
261-506: A collapse in the new Woodhead tunnel, and also by the decision to completely re-signal the whole main line with colour-light signals after sighting problems with the semaphore signals on the Wath branch (nevertheless, some semaphores were retained, which generally remained in service until closure). On 30 May 1954 electric trains began running through the tunnel and the Manchester to Penistone section
348-420: A complex, also covering coal preparation, coal products and a coking plant, which was not only visible, but polluted the air for miles around. Rail took over coal transportation from the canal. Wath upon Dearne became a rail-freight centre of national importance. Wath marshalling yard , built north of the town in 1907, was one of the biggest and for its time one of the most modern railway marshalling yards in
435-505: A descending train's braking was fed back to the overhead lines and either used by other trains requiring power in the same block of line, or dissipated as heat in resistive loads at the electrical sub-stations. Nearly all of the gantries for the overhead wires between Manchester London Road and the west portal of Woodhead were erected, and a prototype locomotive was constructed, by the time the Second World War intervened. The locomotive
522-458: A further three years. The sewage treatment works at Darton and Lundwood, on either side of Barnsley, were largely responsible. Discharges from the Darton sewage treatment works contained residues from dyes used by a local carpet manufacturer, which reached the works by a foul sewer, but could not be adequately treated by the existing processes. As a result, the final effluent was a deep red colour, and
609-526: A large millpond, which supplied mills at Denby Dale. Beyond the mills, the river passes under a railway viaduct near Denby Dale railway station . The curved viaduct with 21 tall arches was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1884. The river flows to the north east closely following the A636 road. It is joined by Thorpe Dike at Kitchenroyd. It passes through Scissett and west of Clayton West where it
696-492: A mere 66 minutes between Wath and Dunford Bridge as opposed to nearly two and a half hours powered by steam. The Worsborough (or Wentworth) incline, also known as Worsborough Bank was a formidable feature on the Wath to Penistone section. This line was opened east of Silkstone in 1880 to alleviate congestion at Barnsley. Although nominally 1 in 40, colliery subsidence had made sections of the bank much steeper. The difficulty in operating this steeply-graded section (which included
783-530: A part of the closure agreement, the track on the Sheffield– Penistone –Hadfield section of the route was left in place for five years. 1986 saw much of the remaining track lifted, except for the sections in the vicinity of Penistone station (which remained open for Sheffield–Huddersfield trains), and east of Deepcar, which remained for both freight and passenger traffic in the Sheffield area. In December 1984
870-523: A poetry workshop at Littleworth Grange Primary Learning Centre, where children completed a poem about water treatment for which he supplied the first two lines. In June 2015, the Environment Agency announced that salmon had returned to the Dearne for the first time in 150 years. This follows the opening of a fish ladder at Sprotborough weir in 2014. The Environment Agency measure the water quality of
957-616: A series of lakes which form the Dearne Ings and Old Moor washlands. On the opposite side of the channel are the Bolton Ings washlands, which cover 110 acres (45 ha) and have been acquired by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). In 2011, the site was in its early stages of development, but the reedbeds have attracted spoonbills and avocets , and are expected to act as
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#17328813069321044-595: A shallow, fast-flowing watercourse, and consists of deeper pools with a slower flow, which is suitable for various coarse fish as well as trout. By 1974, a modest improvement in water quality had been achieved by treatment of industrial effluent, and some fish managed to exist below the weir at the Star Paper Mill in Barnsley. The weir helped to oxygenate the water, and most of the fish had been washed downstream from Cannon Hall and Bretton Lakes. During flood conditions, many of
1131-402: A traditional throwing of bread buns from the parish church tower. Local schools, organisations and local Labour MP John Healey have joined in festival activities. The RSPB 's Old Moor nature reserve lies a mile to the north-west of the town. It occupies a "flash", where mining-induced subsidence of land close to a river has created wetlands . Wath Athletic F.C. served the community from
1218-607: A walking pace by Silkstone. After electrification, much heavier coal trains could be handled up the bank; however problems with unfitted trains running away on the downgrades west of the Pennines restricted weights on such trains. In later years MGR (Merry-Go-Round) coal trains, running direct from pit to power station became the main traffic with the coal carried in block trains of 30, 32-tonne capacity air-braked wagons. These were normally double-headed by two Class 76 locomotives to their destination with two additional Class 76s banking at
1305-499: A weekly Tuesday market and an annual two-day fair, but these were soon discontinued. The market was revived in 1814. Until local government reorganisation in 1974 , Wath was in the historic county of the West Riding of Yorkshire . Until the mid-19th century the town had a racecourse of regional importance, linked to the estate at nearby Wentworth . This fell into disuse, but traces of it can be seen between Wath and Swinton and it
1392-433: Is a regeneration area. The river has been subject to channel engineering to ease the problem of flooding. A new channel was constructed near its mouth in the 1950s, as the old route had been affected by mining subsidence. Washlands, which can be progressively flooded as water levels rise, were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. A flood relief channel and a regulator to restrict the flow was built at Bolton upon Dearne. During
1479-464: Is crossed by the Kirklees Light Railway . Park Gate Dike swells the flow, before a double-arched skew bridge built in the early 19th century carries the A636 over the channel. Nearby is a hump-backed packhorse bridge with a single arch, probably built in the previous century, after which the river turns to the east to pass the upper and lower lakes in a channel from where it feed the lakes in
1566-593: Is provided by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire . Television signals are received from the Emley Moor TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Sheffield , Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire (formerly Dearne FM ), Heart Yorkshire , Capital Yorkshire , Hallam FM and Rockingham Radio, a community based station which broadcast from the town. The town is served by the local newspaper, Rotherham Advertiser . Wath-upon-Dearne bus station in Montgomery Road in
1653-538: Is rated good or fail. The Dearne and several of its tributaries are designated as "heavily modified", which means that the channels have been altered by human activity, and the criteria for this designation are defined by the Water Framework Directive . The water quality of the Dearne and its tributaries was as follows in 2019. Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to
1740-537: Is remembered in street names. There was a pottery at Newhill, close to deposits of clay, but it was overshadowed by the nearby Rockingham Pottery in Swinton. About the turn of the 19th century, the poet and newspaper editor James Montgomery , resident at the time, called it "the Queen of Villages". This rural character changed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries, as coal mining developed. From 1892 to 1974 Wath Hall served as
1827-467: The 2007 United Kingdom floods , the washlands filled to capacity but the regulator could not be operated as it had been vandalised. Industrialisation caused the river and the Dearne and Dove Canal , to become grossly polluted in the early nineteenth century and fish populations died. The West Riding River Board tried to address the problems in 1896 with limited success and much of the river remained dead until
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#17328813069321914-755: The Pennines with the long Woodhead Tunnel at its central summit close to the Woodhead pass. This led to the route being called the Woodhead Line . The main route ran from Manchester London Road (later Manchester Piccadilly ) over the Pennines, through the Woodhead Tunnel to Penistone , where the Wath line split. The main line then proceeded through Sheffield Victoria Station and on to Rotherwood sidings . The Wath line ran from Penistone to Wath marshalling yard in
2001-750: The River Don at Denaby Main . Its main tributary is the River Dove , which joins it at Darfield. The river was one of those affected by the 2007 United Kingdom floods . The course of the river is accessible to walkers as the Dearne Way, a long distance footpath from Dearne Head to the river's junction with the Don. Places of interest along the Dearne include the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at West Bretton , and Monk Bretton Priory . The Dearne Valley below Barnsley
2088-518: The Yorkshire Sculpture Park . Bretton Hall lies to the north. The river turns south at the dam of the lower lake and passes over weirs before picking up the outflow from the lakes, after which the 75-metre (246 ft) contour is crossed. Next it turns to the south east and passes under the A637 road, the M1 motorway and the sliproads which form part of Junction 38, to reach Darton . The Cawthorne Dike joins from
2175-541: The 1086 Domesday Book as Wad and Waith . It remained for some centuries a rural settlement astride the junction of the old Doncaster–Barnsley and Rotherham– Pontefract roads, the latter a branch of Ryknield Street . North of the town was a ford across the River Dearne . The name has been linked to the Latin vadum and the Old Norse vath (ford or wading place). The town received a royal charter in 1312–1313 entitling it to
2262-791: The 1880s to the Second World War , playing in the Midland League and reaching the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1926. No senior team has represented the settlement since the 1950s, and Wath remains one of the largest places in Yorkshire without one. However, it has a Rugby Union team that plays in the Yorkshire Division 2. The four primary schools for ages 3–11 are Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Wath Central Primary, Wath C of E Primary and Wath Victoria Primary. The two secondary schools are Saint Pius X Catholic High School (for ages 11–16 ) and
2349-411: The 1980s, when industrial effluents were removed before they were discharged and improvements were made to sewage treatment. Despite setbacks, fish populations had been partially reinstated by the early 1990s. Channel engineering was carried out at Denaby in the 1990s, to re-introduce bends, deep pools and shallow gravel riffles, to assist fish spawning. In June 2015, salmon were reported in the river for
2436-512: The 19th and early 20th century. The population swelled and local infrastructure developed round the coal-mining, but this reliance on one industry led to future problems. The Dearne and Dove Canal opened in stages from 1798 to 1804 to access the collieries on the south side of the Dearne Valley. It passed through the town on an embankment just north of the High Street and then turned north into
2523-518: The 2013 FATEA Awards. The festival has been a supporter of young artists such as Lucy Ward , and Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar . It has also hosted the Wath Festival Young Performers' Award, founded in 2011. The event includes dancing by local morris and sword-dancing groups, street performances, workshops, children's events and a Saturday morning parade from Montgomery Hall through Montgomery Square and back to St James's Church, for
2610-657: The Don was adjacent to the railway sidings of the Cadeby Main colliery, but by 1930 it had been moved further upstream, much closer to its present location. There is a long-distance path which follows the course of the river from its source to its junction with the River Don. It is known as the Dearne Way, and the paths are marked on current editions of the Ordnance Survey maps. The path is around 30 miles (48 km) long and can be walked in 12 to 16 hours. Walkers who start at
2697-491: The Environment Agency carried out another fish restocking programme. Improvements to water quality through Barnsley highlighted the fact that fish populations did not exist below the discharge from the Lundwood sewage treatment works to the east of Barnsley. As the population of Barnsley had increased, the volume of effluent received by the works had increased without a corresponding increase in its ability to treat it. In addition,
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2784-455: The Houghton washlands resulted from the extremely high water levels, which overtopped the banks and caused erosion to take place. Following the floods, a reassessment of the function of the regulators was carried out, and in view of the costs of maintaining them, the Environment Agency intend to remove them once some reconfiguration of the river channel has been completed. This work will ensure that
2871-523: The Manchester end of the line and the Sheffield–Penistone service was left in the hands of diesel trains. The Class 77 express passenger train locomotives were sold to the Netherlands national railway company Nederlandse Spoorwegen , becoming NS Class 1500 . By the late 1970s freight traffic, including South Yorkshire coal, had declined to the extent that British Rail took the decision to close
2958-505: The River Dove joins the Dearne, Darfield, Houghton and Cudworth. Some of the storage capacity was lost as a result of mining schemes, and a regulator was installed at Bolton in 1972, allowing the flow to be restricted by a sluice gate. During the flooding in 2007 , all of the washlands filled to capacity, although the Bolton regulator could not be operated as it had been vandalised. Some damage to
3045-489: The Sheffield end of the line were moved from Darnall to the new Tinsley depot. The overhead line equipment on this section was designed to be easily convertible to 25 kV AC electrification, which by now had been accepted as the standard overhead electrification system for BR. The benefits of electrification were immediately apparent: Sheffield to Manchester expresses now completed the journey in 56 minutes as opposed to 65 minutes with steam traction; an 850-ton coal train took
3132-688: The Wath Morris Dancing Team in 1972. It has grown to host known names on the folk, acoustic and world music scene. While festival events occur across the town, most larger concerts are held at the Montgomery Hall Theatre and Community Venue. Those appearing have included Dougie MacLean , Fairport Convention , Martin Simpson , John Tams , Frances Black , John McCusker , Stacey Earle and Eddi Reader . The festival marked its 40th anniversary in 2012. Wath won Village Festival Of The Year in
3219-477: The Yorkshire Water Authority a year later showed that many of these were surviving. By 1992, there was evidence that the fish were breeding in the river, and naturally bred brown trout were found between Denby Dale and Clayton West in 1994, for the first time in over 100 years. The trout population in the upper Dearne was declared to be self-sustaining by 1996. The river below Clayton West ceases to be
3306-419: The advent of the double-headed, double-banked merry-go-round unit trains previously mentioned. Whilst such a train was climbing Worsborough Incline, all other electric trains were prohibited from entering or moving within the power section between Strafford Crossing and Aldam Junction, lest the substations at these two locations tripped out from the high current draw. Heavy current loads also caused flashovers in
3393-473: The area felt rather rural, the construction of large distribution centres to the north of the town is restoring an industrial feel, but without the pollution issues of coal. Several distribution warehouses for the clothing chain Next have opened. Much new housing is being built on reclaimed land. Wath Festival, held round the early May bank holiday , is a folk and acoustic music and arts festival founded by members of
3480-499: The canal over the river. Two more road bridges follow, the second of which carries the A633 Grange Lane. Just before the bridge is Priory Mill, a thirteenth-century mill which was heavily rebuilt by Sir William Armyne in 1635, and further remodelled in the nineteenth century. It was powered by a leat from the river, which supplied internal water wheels. Water from the leat was also channelled to Monk Bretton Priory , where it flushed
3567-558: The closure of the alternative Hope Valley line , the high cost of providing an electrified link into Sheffield Midland station as Sheffield Victoria was scheduled for closure , and the impending opening of the massive Fiddlers Ferry Power Station requiring even more trans-Pennine freight train paths from the South Yorkshire Coalfield , all conspired against passenger use of the Woodhead line, which closed to passengers on 5 January 1970. A local electric service remained at
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3654-670: The country, as one of the eastern ends of the trans- Pennine Manchester–Sheffield–Wath electrified railway (also known as the Woodhead Line ), a project that spanned the Second World War and partly responded to the need to move large amounts of Wath coal to customers in North-West England . Wath once had three railway stations: Wath Central in Moor Road, Wath (Hull and Barnsley) and Wath North both in Station Road. Wath North,
3741-571: The early 1900s, the river was lifeless between Barnsley and the Don, with fish unable to survive in the cocktail of chemicals. The River Dove was also lifeless, although the Cawthorne Dyke and several other small tributaries managed to retain populations of brown trout. The situation had not improved by the 1960s, when the Yorkshire Ouse River Board noted that industrial waste from the mining, paper making, brewing and textile industries
3828-551: The electrification of the line before the First World War . No detailed plans were drawn up, but by the 1920s the high levels of heavy freight traffic made steam operation increasingly problematic. Plans were interrupted by the 1923 grouping of the railways, which saw the GCR absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). The operational problems remained into the 1930s. In 1935
3915-466: The first time in 150 years. The river rises just below the 330-metre (1,080 ft) contour west of Birdsedge. Within around 1.9 miles (3 km), it reaches the A635 Barnsley Road bridge at Denby Dale , by which time it has dropped below the 175-metre (574 ft) contour, and its flow has been swelled by several springs and the output of Park Dike. Below the bridge, Munchcliffe Beck joins near
4002-552: The flow of the river to be diverted through the floodbank and into the washland when there were high levels at the junction with the River Don. The sluice was rebuilt in 1973. Additional washlands were created at Harlington and North Ings, and the river was straightened and realigned. Further upriver, a flood relief channel was built at Bolton upon Dearne, and more washlands were formed between Wath railway bridge and Adwick bridge. The Bolton Ings and Old Moor washlands were next to be created, to be followed by those at Wombwell Ings, where
4089-790: The government made credits available to the railways to provide relief for unemployed persons in the Great Depression so the LNER restarted the project: planning and works for electrification commenced. The system was to be electrified at 1,500 V DC, similar to the Dutch style of electrification that had also been used on the LNER's Newport–Shildon line . This system had the advantage that regenerative braking could easily be employed; this provided braking by allowing an electric locomotive's motors to act as generators, thus assisting with control of heavy freight trains when running downhill. The power generated by
4176-640: The heart of the South Yorkshire coalfields. Minor electrified branches off the main line ran to the locomotive depot at Reddish on the Fallowfield Loop line , to Glossop (for local passenger trains), Dewsnap sidings (all at the Manchester end) and Tinsley Marshalling Yard (at the Sheffield end). Following developments with electric traction in the US, the Great Central Railway (GCR) first considered
4263-399: The kitchens and the reredorter . Next there are two former railway bridges which now carry footpaths. Soon sections of the disused Dearne and Dove Canal run parallel to the river, and after passing under two more railway bridges, the course turns to the south to reach Darfield , below which the River Dove joins from the west. The river turns to the east again, passing to the north east of
4350-550: The larger Wath Academy , which has a sixth form and covers 11–18-year-olds, which was the result of an amalgamation between the Wath Grammar School and the Wath (Park Road) Secondary Modern School in January 1964. Both take students from a wider area. A large further education college, Dearne Valley College , based in Wath, has a main campus at Manvers and a smaller one near the town centre. Local news and television programmes
4437-413: The line was prone to colliery subsidence , many of the portal structures which supported the overhead wires contained crossbeams which were designed to be easily adjustable upwards or downwards, using permanent way cranes; the ground-level trackside power feed, communications and signalling cables were similarly adjustable. Some limitations of the Woodhead electrification became apparent, especially with
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#17328813069324524-643: The line: the EM1 (Class 76) Bo+Bo (the + signifying that the bogies were articulated) mixed-traffic locomotives and seven larger EM2 (Class 77) Co-Co locomotives for express passenger trains. To save on costs, the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) loop line into Manchester Central station was not electrified, as was originally in the plan: Manchester-bound passenger trains terminated at London Road (later Piccadilly), while those few passenger trains destined for further afield changed locomotives at Guide Bridge. This
4611-771: The local council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council , not the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive . As such, it is not listed as an official SYPTE Interchange, despite its relative size, and it lacks a ticket office, waiting room and toilet facilities. As of January 2021, the stand allocation is: River Dearne The River Dearne South Yorkshire , England flows roughly east for more than 30 kilometres (19 mi), from its source just inside West Yorkshire . It flows through Denby Dale , Clayton West , Darton , Barnsley , Darfield , Wath upon Dearne , Bolton on Dearne , Adwick upon Dearne and Mexborough to its confluence with
4698-461: The local seat of government for Wath upon Dearne. The town lies over the South Yorkshire coalfield , where high-quality bituminous coal was dug from outcrops and near-surface seams in primitive bell pits for several centuries. Several high-grade seams are close to the surface, including the prolific Barnsley and Parkgate . The rising demand for coal arose from rapid local industrialisation in
4785-468: The lower Dearne has become an important venue for angling. Further improvements to the Lundwood sewage treatment works began in 2007 to enable it to comply with the Freshwater Fish Directive, and although the site was inundated during the floods of 2007, the scheme, which cost £8 million, was completed in 2008. To celebrate the opening of the new works, the poet Ian McMillan was asked to run
4872-600: The lower river fluctuated, as a result of pollution incidents on the middle river, but by 1994, chub and dace were clearly breeding in the river. Breeding was assisted by re-engineering of the channel at Pastures Road, Denaby, which had been straightened in the 1960s after it was affected by subsidence. A series of bends were created, which encourage the formation of deep pools and shallow gravel riffles. These features are needed by dace and barbel for successful spawning, and prevent young fish from being washed downstream in flood conditions. Water quality has continued to improve, and
4959-660: The most distant, was the last to close in 1968, under the Beeching Axe . There has been talk of opening a station on the Sheffield–Wakefield–Leeds line at Manvers, roughly a mile from the town centre. The local coal industry succumbed to a dramatic decline in the British coal-mining industry precipitated by a change in government economic policy in the early 1980s. This had knock-on effects on many subsidiary local industries and caused local hardship. The 1985 miners' strike
5046-413: The north of the town once used by collieries and marshalling yards was returned to scrubland and countryside, dotted with light industrial and commercial office parks. This regeneration of what was still classified as brownfield land has involved building it over with industrial and commercial parks. Large housing developments have also been started. Wath upon Dearne centres on Montgomery Square, with
5133-653: The oil-impregnated paper-insulated lead -covered 33 kV ground-level feeder cable at locations where cable segments were joined together in sealed boxes; such loads were not present in the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway and Great Eastern 1.5 kV DC schemes, both of which served only electric multiple units , not locomotive-hauled trains. Electric trans-Pennine passenger services lasted just 16 years. The Beeching Report had specified that only one Manchester–Sheffield route should stay open to passengers and that route would be Woodhead. However local opposition to
5220-514: The operational problems remained, so money was made available to complete the electrification project. By now the state of the original Woodhead tunnels meant that a new double-track tunnel had to be built to replace the two original single-track bores. Thurgoland tunnel gained a new bore to alleviate clearance problems in the original tunnel. New electric locomotive facilities were built at Reddish, Darnall and Wath, and two classes of locomotive were built at Gorton Locomotive Works , Manchester, for
5307-475: The outfall reached the river along a 440-yard (400 m) stretch of the Cliffe Bridge Dyke, which had suffered from subsidence. This resulted in slow movement along the dyke, which sometimes caused the effluent to become septic before it reached the main channel. A major programme of refurbishment was carried out at the works between 1997 and 1998, to improve the quality of discharge. The fish populations on
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#17328813069325394-402: The population would be washed further downstream, to be replaced by others from the lakes. A survey in 1982 found gudgeon, minnow and three-spined stickleback, which had increased by 1985, and over 10,000 coarse fish were released as part of a restocking programme. However, most of these were killed by serious pollution incidents that affected the river in 1987 and 1988, and incidents continued for
5481-495: The presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS), mercury compounds and cypermethrin, none of which had previously been included in the assessment. Download coordinates as: [REDACTED] Media related to River Dearne at Wikimedia Commons Manchester-Sheffield-Wath electric railway The Manchester–Sheffield–Wath electric railway was an electrification scheme on British railways. The route featured long ascents on both sides of
5568-510: The rear from Wombwell to Silkstone. This was the only section of railway in the UK to be regularly operated by four locomotives per train. A "Clearcall" intercom system ( via the overhead electric wires ) was developed to allow the crews of the front and rear locomotives to communicate, replacing earlier air-horn codes. The purpose-built power control centre for the line was adjacent to Penistone station. The building still stands, but has been adapted for alternative commercial use. As much of
5655-468: The river at Adwick Bridge, a grade II listed twin-arched bridge built of sandstone around 1800. Denaby Ings nature reserve is separated from the river by a railway embankment on the north bank. The river sweeps round to the south to join the River Don just below Mexborough Low Lock, where Mexborough New Cut on the River Don Navigation rejoins the river. In 1903 the junction of the river with
5742-488: The river channel would not provide a satisfactory solution, as it would just move the problem to the River Don, and therefore a series of washlands were created, which could be progressively flooded if required, without affecting centres of population. Near the mouth of the river, Dearne Mouth washland, which is now known as the Denaby Ings Nature Reserve, was created in 1963, and a manually operated sluice allowed
5829-466: The river from land which had been contaminated by them for another ten years. Any progress with the re-establishment of fish stocks was destroyed by a series of releases of pollutants into the river during the 1970s and 1980s. By 1987, water quality had improved sufficiently to try restocking the upper river, and large numbers of yearling trout were released into the river in April. A fish survey carried out by
5916-476: The river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates , angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations,
6003-500: The river without adequate cooling, and the temperature rose. As early as 1896, the West Riding River Board was working hard to improve the situation, and achieved limited success by 1902, when they produced a report. They identified 44 small sewage treatment plants, none of which treated the sewage adequately, and noted that the river was "much polluted by domestic sewage and by untreated or partially treated trade refuse." By
6090-417: The river, as it provided a way to transport the coal to Sheffield and Rotherham, where it was used in the steelworks. This led to the rapid development of more and larger collieries. The population grew rapidly, but it was housed in small villages near the pits. With no urban infrastructure, sewage polluted the river, as did the industrial discharges from the mines. Parts of the upper river were well suited to
6177-410: The route, effective 18 July 1981; only the Manchester–Glossop/Hadfield local passenger trains were left running. BR claimed that the cost of replacing the out-of-date and non-standard equipment on the main section of the line was prohibitive. All but one of the remaining Class 76 locomotives were scrapped. The Wath branch was rapidly lifted between Wombwell Main Junction and West Silkstone Junction. As
6264-405: The source descend through 1,368 feet (417 m) over the length of the walk. By the 1950s, the course of the river near its mouth had been affected by subsidence from coal mining, and the lowering of the channel resulted in much of the surrounding land being regularly flooded. In order to alleviate the problem and restore the gradient of the channel at this point, a new channel was constructed on
6351-496: The south side of the railway embankment, from near Harlington to the River Don. The old channel can still be seen on the north side of the embankment, and connects to the Denaby Ings Nature Reserve. As part of a comprehensive assessment of flood risks caused by the River Don and its tributaries, the River Dearne Improvement Scheme was implemented between 1963 and 1973. It was recognised that simple enlargement of
6438-538: The town centre provides the main public-transport hub. It has four bus stands on an otherwise pedestrianised section of Montgomery Road, next to Montgomery Square, High Street and the Wath-upon-Dearne Community Library. The bus station's one-way system down Montgomery Road is accessed from the B6097 Biscay Way to the north and feeds buses out into Church Street to the south. The land is owned by
6525-555: The town's main shops, the library and the bus station. To its west is the substantial Norman All Saints Church, on a small leafy green, with Wath Hall , the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the Dearne Valley College . Today Wath is still emerging from the coal-industry collapse, although jobs and some low-level affluence have returned. After a hiatus between the clearing of former colliery land and recent redevelopment, when
6612-486: The two Silkstone tunnels) with steam traction was a key reason for electrification. Before electrification a unique powerful Garratt locomotive was built to act as a banker for this section of line, otherwise the normal mode of operation was for two or sometimes even three bankers for the Worsborough incline plus a pilot locomotive to assist from Wath to Dunford Bridge. Even with five locomotives, heavy trains had slowed to
6699-411: The upper 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the river, but could not proceed downstream due to dams erected for the woollen mills. Moth-proofing agents were released by the mills into the water, which were highly toxic to fish, and although the discharge of these chemicals ceased in 1979, when they were routed to a sewer for treatment, the problem did not immediately go away, as the chemicals continued to seep into
6786-455: The valley. This wide section was known locally as the "Bay of Biscay". The canal closed in 1961 after many years of disuse and poor repair. Much of the canal line has since been used for roads, one of them called Biscay Way. By the 20th century, heavy industry was evident, with many large collieries – Wath Main and Manvers Main were the two usually mentioned. After the Second World War , the collieries clustered around Manvers developed into
6873-436: The washlands fill and empty at the appropriate points in a flood cycle. In the late 1700s, the river held good populations of fish. Industrial development of the valley consisted of several deep coal mines, but they were fairly small, and did not significantly pollute the river. There were collieries at Smithies, Honeywell, Queens Ground and Mount Osborne. The opening of the Dearne and Dove Canal in 1810 had serious impacts on
6960-585: The west as it turns to the east and passes under the Wakefield to Barnsley railway line. The B6428 crosses on Barugh Bridge, a single-span bridge made of rock-faced stone, which bears the date 1850 on the north-west buttress. As the river approaches Barnsley , the remains of the Barnsley Canal follow it on the south bank. Beyond the A61 Old Mill Lane bridge there was a mill, after which an aqueduct carried
7047-400: The woollen trade, and mills developed in the 19th century, at Denby Dale, Scissett and Clayton West. The valley of the upper river is quite narrow, and housing was provided by building terraces, which often backed on to the river. Again, sewage ended up in the river, as did the effluent from processing the wool, which included caustic washing agents and dyes. Water used in washing was returned to
7134-410: Was a major factor in the poor biochemical oxygen demand ratings for the river. Major improvements, including new primary settlement tanks and tertiary treatment lagoons, were made to the treatment works, and the carpet manufacturers installed facilities to treat their effluent before it was discharged to the sewer. By 1994, fish were again appearing below the Star Paper Mill weir, and Yorkshire Water and
7221-553: Was being dumping into the river without any treatment. Pressure from the Board and from local authorities based along the river resulted in some treatment being carried out, but by 1974 much of the river was still rated as Class E on the six-point water quality scale, which indicated it was of poor quality, with some parts rated as Class F, meaning that they grossly polluted with little or no life. Nevertheless, small pockets of fish began to appear. A small population of brown trout had survived in
7308-441: Was fully energised on 14 June. The Sheffield Victoria to Penistone section followed on 20 September 1954. At this time the system had its official opening despite not being fully complete: the final few miles from Sheffield Victoria to the system's eastern extremity at Rotherwood was declared open on 3 January 1955. In 1965 the scheme was extended to the brand-new Tinsley Marshalling Yard in Sheffield. The locomotive facilities at
7395-455: Was hardly the only austerity measure in the immediate postwar period; other cost-cutting measures in the MSW scheme included retention of signal boxes rather than use of power signalling , and the new Up tunnel at Thurgoland rather than daylighting the original bore. The Wath to Penistone section was the first to be energised, on 2 February 1952. Completion of the main line was delayed until 1954 by
7482-583: Was loaned to the Netherlands Railways (NS) immediately after the Second World War to assist in working the war-damaged railways there; in the process of this it acquired the nickname "Tommy" in honour of the British foot soldier . Later, after repatriation to Britain, this nickname was used officially . In 1948 the LNER was nationalised as a part of British Railways . Nearly 30 years had elapsed and
7569-484: Was sparked by the impending closure of Cortonwood Colliery in Brampton Bierlow , a neighbouring village often seen as part of Wath. Along with the whole of the Dearne Valley, Wath was classified as an impoverished area and received public money, including European funds. These were put to regenerating the area from the mid-1990s onwards, causing a degree of economic revival. It made the area more rural, as much land to
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