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0.18

Whittington

Rother
Don and Rother catchment • Old Whittington • Derbyshire • ID: F0203 • Level
(23m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 137 views

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Current Level
0.183 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.197 m
24h Min
0.178 m
Typical Range
0.23 - 2.45
m
Highest Recorded
4.29 m
20 Oct 2023
Since Nov 1979
Current level is 4% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.7 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.183 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.183 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.183 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.183 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.183 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.183 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.184 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.184 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.185 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.185 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.186 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.186 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.186 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.187 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.187 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.188 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.188 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.189 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.190 m
23 Aug 17:45 0.190 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2010 for the 19 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 km away).

64flood warnings 47flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 14 Nov 2025River Rother at North Chesterfield and Old Whittington

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2025 7 4
2024 3 4
2023 19 5
2022 0 2
2020 7 2
2019 6 7
2018 2 0
2016 6 4
2014 0 1
2013 2 7
2012 12 10
2010 0 1

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Old Whittington flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Whittington
  • Watercourse: River Rother
  • Nearest Town: Old Whittington
  • County: Derbyshire
  • Nearest reservoir: Ogston (14.1 km) · 55.1% full (as of 17 Aug 2026)
  • Coordinates: 53°15'58"N 1°24'39"W (53.266027, -1.410737)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1964
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: F0203
  • EA Gauge ID: F0203-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Don and Rother
  • Typical Range: 0.225 – 2.450 m
  • Drainage Area: 165 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.18 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Catchment Character

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds fairly quickly to rain, with moderate baseflow between events.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.49
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
832 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
15%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
37.34 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
94.02 m³/s
20 Oct 2023
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 1.966.730.9900.2745% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 10%Grassland 49%Arable 14%Heath/scrub 2%Urban 25%
Grassland 39% → 49% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply, groundwater abstraction, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Flat-V weir in an open channel. Flow regime influenced by numerous abstractions and diversions.

More detail

The catchment

A catchment draining moors and fertile farming valleys to the southwest of Sheffield, including Dronfield and Chesterfield. Comprising mostly Pennine uplandsGeology: mainly Coal Measures with underlying Millstone Grit outcropping in the southwest of the catchment, except for a narrow alluvial strip, down the axis of a geosyncline in the valley. Mixed agriculture predominates, some moorland in headwaters (Peak District). Substantial urban development - population has grown fourfold since 1945. Industry has developed alongside residential growth. Once commonplace, now few traces of coal mining in the area remain. Chesterfield is immediately u/s of station.

The station

Flat-V weir in an open-channel, on a straight, stable reach, just downstream of Chesterfield. Cableway located 50m u/s rebuilt 2003; new cableway covers larger cross-section of river. Replaced a shallow masonry V weir located a short distance upstream in October 1979. Improvements in water quality may be responsible for heavy, summer weed-growth.

How it measures flow

Flows greater than the capacity of the weir rated using cableway 50m upstream. Railway embankment and high river wall at sewage treatment works thought to fully contain high flows, but hydraulic modelling suggests peak flows (>60 cumecs) may be underestimated. Flows bypassing station via Chesterfield Canal were measured at Wheeldon Mill Lock from October 1963 to 1989. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rating reviewed in 2012 and modified to increase flows slightly above bankfull stage, based on gauging during 2007 flood event - applied back to November 1979 when previous masonry weir replaced with current structure. Reviewed again in 2024 with flows since 1980 slightly increased. Flood Studies Report grade A1 in 1975, now graded A1 to 2.9m and B above.

Flow regime

Flows from November 1979 reprocessed in 1996 and 2012. The pre-1979 rating is a poor fit to gaugings and flows are likely to be underestimated.

The flow record

Flows from November 1979 reprocessed in 1996 and 2012. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1963
Station datum
58.4 mAOD
Flow record
1963–2024 · 61 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1960
Hydrometric area
27
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Rother at Whittington flooding today?

The current level is 0.18m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Whittington?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Rother at Whittington?

The typical range at this station is 0.23m to 2.45m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.45m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →