[1] There is an information panel at the beginning of the Five Weirs Walk at the junction of Castlegate and Lady’s Bridge, but this walk starts across the road at the junction with Bridge Street. Follow this past the Exchange Brewery building and turn right to start the Upper Don Walk.
(A) Exchange Brewery was founded in 1852 by the Tennant Brothers and was taken over by Whitbreads in 1962. You join the river by the first of several information panels lining the waterfront.
[2] Cross Shalesmoor at the pedestrian lights and continue along the trail, noting the artwork adorning the wall below the pub. Enter Kelham Square and continue to Kelham Island Museum.
(B) Kelham Island Museum stands on a man-made Island over 900 years old. It contains artifacts telling the story of Sheffield's industrial past. It contains the Bessemer Converter used for converting pig iron into steel.
There is currently no further progress along the river, so cross the leat that makes Kelham an island and the enter the car park with the original lamp standards.
The enticing smell may come from the Kelham Island microbrewery next to the Fat Cat pub, which has flood level markings on its outer wall.
Follow Alma Street round the corner (café) into Green Lane. Opposite Dun Street is the ornate entrance to Green Lane Works. Turn right beyond the old Alfred Beckett works and pause on Brooklyn Bridge to look at the huge weir on the right, where Kelham Island begins. Double back left to rejoin the riverside walk, which brings you to the site of the old Neepsend Rolling Mills. Turn left on Neepsend Lane and cross Rutland Road. You pass the remains of the old Stones Brewery and the Gardeners Rest, a noted real ale pub. There is more artwork adorning the skateboard park across the road. Cross the road at the next bridge and continue alongside the river on the mostly traffic free Club Mill Road.
[3] Beyond the industrial units this becomes a track. Turn left at the junction and take the higher path for views of the regeneration work on Parkwood Springs. Rejoin the main track and continue by the river. Branch off right before reaching the next road bridge where you see a solitary gravestone just beyond two boulders. Turn right behind this to a junction and ascend the hill for just ten yards before turning left into Wardsend Cemetery, passing the foundations of the old buildings.
(D) Due to the risk of disease, the churchyard of the now demolished St Philip’s Church in Shalesmoor was closed in 1857. Outlying land at Wardsend was acquired as an extension cemetery. A mortuary chapel and sexton’s house were built and the land consecrated in 1859. The area was badly affected by the Sheffield Flood of 1864 and many of the victims were buried here. A monument to soldiers that died, not in battle, but in Hillsborough Barracks between 1866 and 1869 can be seen. The final burial was in 1977, the site abandoned in 1988. Despite occasional outcries for restoration this wild hillside remains forlorn and neglected to this day, though its decay is part of its mystery and charm. There can’t be too many graveyards bisected by a railway line either. Virtually all of the gravestones in the upper cemetery are completely obscured by high bracken and undergrowth during high summer.
Turn right at the next junction past more remains to reach the Hillsborough Barracks monument. Turn right beyond this, cross the tarmac path and continue through the cemetery. Bear right along the track beneath the power lines. The path goes up then down. Upon reaching the flat, double back left to a footbridge and continue to Herries Road South.
Here you can turn left and follow the end of the Wardsend Cemetery walk along Penistone Road (see below) or cross into Herries Road and follow Leppings Lane into Hillsborough at the roundabout.
[4] Turn left along Penistone Road and cross at the second set of lights, opposite Kwik Fit. Cross Parkside Road and turn right. Enter Hillsborough Park at the car park entrance and turn left across the grass or along the tarmac. Walk alongside the lakeshore, turn right and go straight on with the wall on your left. Turn left then right or cut straight across the grass. Turn left at the cross-path to the exit and go straight on along the main road to Hillsborough Park tram stop. Keep straight on to reach the Travel Interchange.