Blackburn Brook

The Blackburn Brook is a stream in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England which joins the River Don near the Meadowhall shopping centre. Between Blackburn village and Grange Lane the brook originally formed the boundary between the Sheffield and the Rotherham. With the coming of the South Yorkshire Railway in the 1850s the course of the brook was straightened to run parallel with the trackbed through the valley, however the boundary continued to follow the original course.

There was a power station that once stood near the confluence of the Blackburn and the Don called Blackburn Meadows Power Station. The power station is no longer in use but both cooling towers could be seen next to the Tinsley Viaduct until 24 August 2008, when they were demolished, scuppering alternative plans to use them as a public art installation.

The stream flows through the Blackburn Valley along the M1 and Ecclesfield Road.

Very high rainfall in the summer of 2007 caused Blackburn Brook to burst its banks at the entrance to Chapeltown Park, and where the stream flows under the A629 Cowley Lane. Many properties on Cowley Lane and Falding Street were flooded and a local schoolboy had to be rescued from fast flowing waters after falling into the stream. [ [http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news?articleid=2959811 Yorkshire Post, 16 June 2007] ]

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