Ashopton, Derbyshire

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Ashopton, Ladybower Reservoir, Derbyshire

Interesting Facts:
• In the early 1940s the villages of Ashopton and Derwent were demolished for the construction of Ladybower Reservoir.
• It was the site of the toll house on the toll road which is now the A57 Snake Pass road. The only memory of the village is now the Ashopton Viaduct which takes the road across the reservoir and this is 133ft in height.
• The water level has never fallen low enough to reveal the site of Ashopton Village at the feet of the viaduct.
• There was a Methodist Chapel built in 1840 with its final service on 25 September 1939 and it was demolished, along with the remaining buildings in the village, in 1943.

The stone-built ivy-clad houses were so solid and the communities so established it seemed things could never change. Ashopton and Derwent were no different to hundreds of Peak District settlements, most of which are still going strong today. Ashopton boasted a 17th century hall, toll cottage, Georgian coaching inn and dozens of cottages. Yet these idyllic rural hamlets were removed from the landscape and then drowned, as the old photos show. First, dams and a huge viaduct were built. Then, as the waters rose, people were moved out and the houses pulled down. Ladybower, Derwent and Howden dams were built between 1901 and 1945 and the villages of Ashopton and Derwent were submerged in 1943, although they continue to loom large in the imagination today.

With grateful thanks to Frank Parker of the Longstone Local History Group for research and fact checking.

As it is difficult to be sure of copyright restrictions for photographs please Google 'Ashopton' and select the Images tab.
Derby Telegraph article showing 1936 photograph of Ashopton post office see article.
Sheffield Star article 13 photographs

• Wikipedia
• Derbyshire Life article
• Sheffield Star - 13 eerie pictures reveal life in idyllic Peak District villages before the Ladybower reservoir came