The Don Gorge is the valley of the River Don to the west of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, south of the village of

Sprotbrough Sprotbrough is a village in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, west of the centre. With Cusworth to the north, it forms the civil parish of Sprotbrough and Cusworth. Sprotbrough village had a population of 3,321 at the 2011 ce ...

. The gorge is known as a 'green corridor'. A weir is on the river at Sprotbrough, and this is bypassed by a canal with a lock. The abandoned hamlet of

Levitt Hagg Levitt Hagg (sometimes spelled Levit Hagg or Levett Hagg ) is an abandoned hamlet in South Yorkshire, located approximately two miles southwest of Doncaster and near Conisbrough Castle. Limestone began to be quarried at the site in ancient time ...

sits in woodland to the south of the river. The Sprotbrough Flash nature reserve lies adjacent to the river on its north bank. Boat Lane provides vehicular access into the village; additionally there is a public footpath. Mill Lane connects the Don Gorge with

Warmsworth Warmsworth is a village, Civil parish and suburb of Doncaster in the City of Doncaster district in South Yorkshire, England. Its population was estimated at 3,908 in 2019. The village lies along the A1(M) Doncaster Bypass and the A630. The Riv ...

to the south.

History

The Don Gorge is a valley of magnesian limestone, cut through by the water of the River Don. It extends from Conisbrough in the west, to Sprotbrough in the east, ending just before the

A1(M) motorway A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in England. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greate ...

. Animals such as woolly mammoths and rhinoceroses, are evident from bones dug up in the area. These seem to be from the last ice age when meltwater carved out the Don Gorge from the magnesian limestone. Several hoards of coins and jewelry have been found on both sides of the gorge, though mostly on the south side. This has led to speculation that the gorge was a boundary in the pre-Roman period in Britain, when the gorge was less wooded than it is at present. Sprotbrough Flash formed in 1924, when mining subsidence caused the area to flood. It is now a nature reserve, which opened to the public in 1984. The presence of the limestone led to quarrying in the gorge, which prompted use of the river to transport the product out. The abandoned village of Levitt Hagg, on the south side of the gorge, is now a landfill site. The villagers left, or were transferred into council houses in Warmsworth and Sprotbrough in the 1950s. Excavations of a weir in 2014/2015 revealed the remains of a mill at Sprotbrough. The weir was being reconditioned into a fish pass. The

Trans-Pennine Trail The Trans Pennine Trail is a long-distance path running from coast to coast across Northern England entirely on surfaced paths and using only gentle gradients (it runs largely along disused railway lines and towpath, canal towpaths). It forms ...

now traverses the gorge, and the whole valley is known as a 'green corridor' which has seen much investment and cleaning up of the river.

References

Sources

*{{cite book , last1=Reeve , first1=Elizabeth , title=River Don , date=2015 , publisher=Amberley Publishing , location=Stroud , isbn=1445638681

External links

Don Gorge Community GroupSprotbrough Gorge SSSI map
Valleys of Yorkshire