River Went

River Went
The river seen from Standing Flat bridge
Location
Country	England
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Streethouse
• elevation	160 feet (49 m)
Mouth
• location	River Don, Pincheon Green
• elevation	0 feet (0 m)
Length	16 miles (26 km)[1]

v t e River Went
Legend
Source near Streethouse Pontefract line railway bridge A645 bridge Hardwick Beck B6428 Little Went Bridge Hessle Beck Ackworth School pumping stn A628 Ackworth Carr Bridge Hoyle Mill Stream Tan House Dike Dearne Valley line railway Barr's Drain A639 Standing Flat Bridge B6474 Went Bridge A1 Wentbridge Viaduct Willow Bridge Little Smeaton Askern branch line railway A19 Went Bridge Lake Drain Old course of River Went Norton Common pumping stn Blowell Drain Lake Drain pumping stn East Coast Main Line railway Old railway bridge New Junction Canal Junction sluice River Don

The River Went is a river in Yorkshire, England. It rises close to Featherstone and flows eastward, joining the River Don just to the north of Pincheon Green.

The river is classified as a main river by the Environment Agency, and is therefore their responsibility. Drainage of the surrounding low level land is managed by the Danvm Drainage Commissioners, an internal drainage board. Most of the drainage ditches for which they are responsible empty into the Went by gravity, but they also manage six pumping stations in the catchment of the Went. These pump water from areas where mining subsidence from the extraction of coal has resulted in land too low to drain by gravity, and are funded by the Coal Authority. At its mouth, the river enters the River Don through a pair of pointing doors, which are designed to close to prevent high levels in the Don from passing up the Went and causing flooding.

Historically, the river has provided the power for at least five water mills, which processed corn. The building of four of them no longer exist, but that at Norton is part of a Manorial estate. The estate is a scheduled monument, while the mill is a grade II listed building, as are several of the bridges that cross the river. This includes the Wentbridge Viaduct, which opened in 1961 to carry the Ai road at high level over the valley of the Went, replacing a previous low level bridge.

The river became seriously polluted in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as a result of mining and population growth, resulting in all fish stocks dying out. Since the 1970s, efforts have been made to improve the water quality, and a programme of releasing fish from elsewhere has enabled self-sustaining populations of coarse fish to flourish in the river. In the 21st century, the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and other organisations have been working on remediation projects on the upper river, to overcome the worst effects of opencast mining. The aim is to create habitat where game fish such as trout can spawn.