River Went facts for kids

Quick facts for kids River Went
The river seen from Standing Flat bridge
Country	England
Physical characteristics
Main source	Streethouse 160 feet (49 m)
River mouth	River Don, Reedholme Common 0 feet (0 m)

The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It starts near Featherstone and flows eastwards. It eventually joins the River Don at Reedholme Common.

Some people think that the famous Battle of the Winwaed might have happened somewhere along the Went valley. This battle was a very important event in early English history.

Where the River Went Flows

The River Went begins as Went Beck in Streethouse, west of Featherstone. It starts at about 160 feet (49 m) above sea level. It flows east, passing south of Featherstone.

Before it goes under the B6428 road at Little Went bridge, it meets Hardwick Beck. Hardwick Beck flows from the lakes at Nostell Park. Nostell Park used to be a priory, which is a type of monastery. Now, it has a beautiful old house owned by the National Trust.

The river then flows between High Ackworth and Ackworth Moor Top. After that, it goes under the Low Ackworth railway viaduct.

Famous Bridges and Valleys

As the river continues east, it crosses under the A639 road. This road follows an old Roman road. The bridge here is called Standing Flat bridge, and it's near Thorpe Audlin.

Next, the river reaches Wentbridge. Here, the B6474 road crosses it on an old stone bridge with two arches. This bridge was likely built in the early 1800s.

The A1 road bypasses Wentbridge and crosses the river on the impressive Wentbridge viaduct. This huge bridge was built in 1961. It was designed by F A Sims and was very special for its time. It was probably the first bridge in England to use a new way of strengthening concrete. When it was built, it was the largest bridge of its kind in Europe! In 1964, a museum in New York City said it was a very important engineering structure.

Soon, the river flows through Brockadale, which is a steep, wooded valley. It then passes Kirk Smeaton on its south side and Little Smeaton on its north side. An old railway used to cross here, but it's gone now.

Journey to the River Don

At Norton, the river passes where Norton mill and Norton Priory used to be. It then goes under Tanpit bridge, another old stone bridge from the early 1800s.

By the time it reaches another railway line, the river is only 16 feet (4.9 m) above sea level. The river banks here are built up to stop floods in the low-lying areas around it.

Beyond Went bridge, where the A19 road crosses, the river used to wind around Stubbs Common. But a new, straight channel has been made. This new channel has special drains on the sides to collect any water that seeps through the banks.

Lake Drain joins the river at Lake Mouth. The Doncaster to Selby railway line crosses next. Then, an old red-brick bridge from the early 1800s carries a lane over the river at Topham.

The river passes north of Sykehouse. Here, a special bridge called an aqueduct carries the New Junction Canal over the River Went. This aqueduct was built in 1905. At this point, the River Went runs next to the Aire and Calder Navigation. Soon after, it joins the River Don. The River Don was changed in 1628 by an engineer named Cornelius Vermuyden. The Don then flows east to Goole through the Dutch River.

River Health and Water Quality

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the River Went was very polluted. This was because of coal mining and the many people who moved to the area to work in the mines. Many villages didn't have good sewage treatment. Mines also released dirty water and lots of solid waste into the river. This waste covered the riverbed and killed plants. Because of this, almost all the fish in the river died, and there were no fish until the 1970s.

The River Don was also very polluted. But by the 1970s, the water quality in the lower part of the River Went started to get a little better. This was because the pollution was naturally cleaned up as it flowed. A small number of fish started to live in the river again. Most of these fish probably came from cleaner waters higher up the Don and found a safe place in the Went.

Fish Come Back to the River

As the water continued to improve, the fish populations grew stronger by the 1980s. Fish like roach, bream, perch, and eels began to spread upstream. These types of fish liked the slower-moving parts of the river below Sykehouse.

However, the river above Sykehouse flows faster. This part of the river is better for fish like chub and dace. But these fish had all died out because of the pollution, so they couldn't come back on their own.

To fix this, the Yorkshire Water Authority's Fisheries department looked for chub and dace to put back into the river. They found a group of these fish in the River Ouse near Cawood. In 1981, they caught over 2,000 young chub and dace and released them into the River Went near Askern, below the A19 road bridge.

This project was a big success! The fish spread both upstream and downstream from where they were released. Soon, they were able to have their own babies and keep the population going. Now, the River Went is a great place for fishing. There are also chub and dace in the Don near Doncaster, and people think they came from the River Went.

Checking River Health

The Environment Agency checks the water quality of rivers in England. They give each river an overall "ecological status." This can be high, good, moderate, poor, or bad. They look at things like:

• Biological status: This checks the types and numbers of tiny creatures (invertebrates), plants, and fish in the water.
• Chemical status: This checks if the levels of different chemicals in the water are safe. Chemical status is either "good" or "fail."

Here's how the water quality of the River Went was in 2015:

This table shows that while the chemical status of the river was good, the ecological status (which looks at living things) was still "poor" in the upper part and "moderate" in the lower parts. This means there's still work to do to make the river even healthier for all living things.

Places Along the River Went

Towns and Villages Along the Went

Many towns and villages are located along the River Went. Here are some of them: