River Dearne - Route

Route

The river rises from just below the 330-metre (1,080 ft) contour to the west of Birdsedge. Within around 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), 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 a number of springs and the output of the Park Dike. Below the bridge, the Munchcliffe Beck joins, and there is a large millpond, which supplied mills at Denby Dale. Beyond the mills, it crosses under a railway viaduct by Denby Dale railway station. The viaduct is curved, with 21 tall arches, and was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1884. Next the river flows to the north east, with the A636 road closely following it on the north bank. It is joined by the Thorpe Dike at Kitchenroyd. It passes through Scissett and then to the west of Clayton West, where it is crossed by the Kirklees Light Railway. Park Gate Dike again swells the flow, before a double-arched skew bridge built in the early nineteenth century carrries 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 by the upper and lower lakes of Bretton Country Park on the south bank and Bretton Hall with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on the north. There is a weir on the river and one on 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.