Like the other rivers in Sheffield, its steep gradient made it ideal for powering water mills and works associated with the metalworking and cutlery industries, and around 20 dams were constructed over the centuries to facilitate this.

The Porter Brook rises from a series of springs among the sedge grass of Burbage Moor, the highest of which is close to the 370-metre (1,210 ft) contour near Brown Edge Farm.

Just before it reaches the bridge carrying Woodcliffe over it, the river is joined by Mayfield Brook, which rises at a similar level but a little further to the north.

The grade II listed structure was constructed in 1927 by a Master Cutler called David Flather, and may have been built from materials taken from the Wire Mill.

[5] Below Whiteley Wood Road bridge it is joined by a small tributary, flowing northwards from springs in the Porter Valley Woodlands Local Nature Reserve (LNR).

Oak Brook flows southwards from the grounds of Tapton Hall to join the north bank, and Holme dam is close to the river as it enters Endcliffe Wood.

[1] 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land in Endcliffe Woods, at the eastern end of the linear park, was bought by Sheffield Corporation in 1885, to create public walks and pleasure grounds, but they also had another motive.

They then asked William Goldring to create a public park in the woods, which included gravelled paths, flower beds, ornamental shrubberies, rustic bridges, seating and a refreshment room.

In 1924, Sheffield's commitment to public spaces was recognised by Patrick Abercrombie in his Civic Survey, where he described the Porter Valley parks as "the finest example to be found in this country of a radial park strip, an elongated open space, leading from a built-up part of the city direct into the country.

[9] Beyond Brocco Bank is a small bridge built in 1899 to serve the George Woofindin almshouses, arranged in a crescent on the north side of the river.

[10] The river then enters a section of culvert, to emerge on the south side of Ecclesall Road, and weaves its way between housing to reach Sharrow Vale dam and snuff mill.

[20] Below its junction with the River Sheaf, the tunnels which carry the combined waters under Sheffield Station and the Castlegate area have been celebrated by urban explorers and include a huge cavern known as the 'Megatron'.

Both rivers were culverted to enable the construction of the station to proceed, and the cross link became the main channel of the Porter Brook when the dams were later filled in.

[26][27] The Porter Brook is prone to flooding within the city, because it has been hemmed in to narrow channels between buildings, and passes through culverts that are of inadequate size for storm flows.

A chance meeting been the landscape architect Sam Thorn and Paul Gaskell of the Wild Trout Trust near the start of the project led to a rethinking of how the river would be handled, and resulted in it being re-naturalised, rather than beautified.

The pocket park has two main functions, for as well as providing public green space within an area of the city which has few such facilities, it is also designed to flood under storm conditions, slowing down the progress of water further downstream.

[33] The project was announced as the winner in the Contribution to the Built Environment’ category at the 2016 Living Waterways Awards ceremony, held by the Canal and River Trust in Birmingham Town Hall on 14 September 2016.

One possible redevelopment site is Decathlon Sportswear,[35] where part of the car park is unusable because the roof of the culvert collapsed into the river in January 2017.

[40] The Porter Brook, like the other rivers in Sheffield, is ideally suited for providing water power, as the final section falls some 450 feet (140 m) in a little over 4 miles (6.4 km).

[41] In addition to this water-power, natural sandstone was available in abundance in the nearby hills of Sheffield and the Peak District National Park.

A mill is known to have existed at Fulwood in 1641, when Ulysses Fox its builder appeared before the Court of Kings Bench changed with "trespass", as the rights to grind corn were owned by the manor.

The leaseholder was John Eyre, who bought the wheel from the Duke of Norfolk's estate in 1811, and ownership passed to Sheffield Corporation in the late 1890s, although the transaction was not completed until 1908.

After his death, it was bought by Ebenezer Marsden, who opposed the Water Works Bill in 1835, and was charged an extra £7 rate because of his stance.

The original grinding wheel (1810–1851) closed and the dam was leased to the Vulcan Works a forge, and rolling-mill providing water for boilers.

Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment.

The trust believe that remedial action on the lower Sheaf and Porter would improve biodiversity, as well as the health and wellbeing of the increasing population of the inner city.

At the time of its formation, there were significant re-development projects taking place on the lower Porter, which gave scope to improve the level of daylight on the river and to create public spaces.

They would also like to see light wells added throughout the rest of the culverts, to enable wildlife to pass through them to reach the upper rivers, and believe that redevelopment as part of the HS2 high speed rail link could be the catalyst for that to take place.

[56] The Porter Brook featured heavily in a 2016 BBC Radio 4 documentary entitled "A River of Steel",[57] produced by sound recordist Chris Watson, ex-member of Caberet Voltaire.

The programme included discussion of the recently completed Porter Brook daylighting scheme, which also featured in an article in The Guardian newspaper.