[1] Downstream from the A61 road at Chapeltown the Blackburn Brook is defined as a main river by the Environment Agency, which requires new building development to be at least 26 feet (8 m) from the bank side as a flood defence measure and to allow access to the watercourse for maintenance.

[2] Blackburn Brook begins on the northern edge of High Green, the northernmost suburb of Sheffield, which is some 8 miles (13 km) from the city centre.

Storrs Dike rises on the southern edge of Wortley Hall grounds,[3] a grade II listed park and gardens created in the 19th century.

The combined flow heads, broadly towards the south-east, passing over a weir, under Westwood Bridge, and entering another small reservoir.

The outlet passes into a culvert,[3] which carries it under what was a large refuse tip in 1967,[5] and was the northern extremity of Thorncliffe Iron Works in 1905.

[6] Thorncliffe Iron Works and the adjacent Thorncliffe Colliery have been replaced with housing, and after a small pond and a short section of stream, the river enters a culvert beneath the housing by Newton Chambers Road, and emerges some considerable distance to the south-east, where it is joined by Charlton Brook, which rises from a series of springs to the west of the suburb of Charltonbrook.

A doorway carries the inscription "William Parker made this worke 1584", and the building, which is now used as a hotel and restaurant, is grade II* listed.

[3] Nearby is Willow Garth moated site and fishpond,[10] which was close to a Benedictine Priory, parts of which remain, although converted into dwellings.

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.

The mill was mentioned in 1587, when it was part of the estate surrendered to George, Earl of Shrewsbury by its owner William Parker.

Clear evidence of a mill dam and the remains of a well-preserved tail race were present in 1949, although no name for the site has been found.

Ecclesfield Prior was situated just to the south of the junction with Whitley Brook, and the monks had a water mill, mentioned in 1451.

Rev J R Eastwood was certain that it was the site of a mill built by the monks of Kirkstead in the 12th century, but it is uncertain on what evidence this was based.

[24] Although the wheel has gone, the former course of the river can be seen by the erratic route that the municipal boundary follows through the site, to the north of the present day Royal Oak public house.

The name of the forge master was Mr Artop or Hartop in 1794, and a tilter called Peter Linley owned it in the 1830s, but little else is known, and it had disappeared by 1892.

[31] The power station was decommissioned in 1980, but both cooling towers could be seen next to the Tinsley Viaduct until 24 August 2008,[32] when they were demolished, scuppering alternative plans to use them as a public art installation.

The river has not been classed as good quality because of physical modification of the channel, which affects invertebrates, and discharge misconnections, where household sewage wastes have been inappropriately connected to the wrong drainage network.

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.

[41] Contractors removed debris which was partially blocking the entrance to the Whitley Brook culvert on 8 November, enabling the water to flow freely again.

[42] In September 2014 Sheffield City Council announced plans to create a £2 million flood alleviation programme on the upper Blackburn Brook to protect 233 houses.