River Sheaf

River Sheaf
River Sheaf by Duchess Road at Highfield.
Country	England
Basin features
Main source	Pennines

The River Sheaf is a river in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its source is the union of the Totley Brook and the Old Hay Brook in Totley, now a suburb of Sheffield. It flows northwards, past Dore, through the valley called Abbeydale (so named because of Beauchief Abbey, which overlooks it) and north of Heeley. It then passes into a culvert, through which it flows under the centre of Sheffield emerging just once before joining the River Don near Blonk Street Bridge. This lower section of the River Sheaf together with the River Don, between the present Blonk Street and Lady's Bridges, formed two sides of the boundary of Sheffield Castle.

The main tributaries of the Sheaf are the Porter Brook, which joins it beneath Sheffield Midland station, and the Meers Brook. The river has been polluted upstream through centuries of industrial activity, including iron and steel working, and is only slowly recovering. The river used to provide the power for a number of metal works, an important surviving example of which is the Grade I-listed Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet.

A Sheaf Valley Walk is being developed that will follow the river from Granville Square out to Millhouses Park and beyond to the Peak District.