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Ladybower Reservoir is the largest of three reservoirs of the Upper Derwent Valley in the Peak District (the other two are Derwent Reservoir & Howden Reservoir). They have a combined capacity of 464 billion litres of water.  

But what was there before the water?   

Ladybower Reservoir

Ladybower was built between 1935 and 1943, but 2 small villages - Derwent & Ashopton were flooded in the process. It took another 2 years to fill. At the time it was the largest reservoir in Britain.

 The gateposts of the Derwent village school which was drowned with the creation of Ladybower Reservoir. Ruins of the village re-appear when water levels are low, as here in October 2018. On the far side of the reservoir a valve house connected with the water supply from the older Derwent & Howden reservoirs is also emerging

The River Derwent flowed through Derwent Village under stone bridges and next to it stood cottages, houses and a school. The village church of St John & St James had been built in 1757.  

The church spire of the village of Derwent, which was flooded in 1943

Most of the Derwent church was pulled down but the spire was left as a memorial & could be seen when the water level was low. Unfortunately the spire was demolished.in 1947.

(Taken from a 1960s BBC film about Ladybower Reservoir)

There was also the manor house Derwent Hall, a palatial country house thar had evolved over three centuries. The imposing building was once owned by the Duke of Norfolk.  Its grounds featured ornamental gardens and a fishpond. It sat peacefully by the River Derwent until plans were made to dam the valley and flood it.

An intriguing part of the Hall's structure perhaps it was part of the garden terrace. It's hard to say

The village of Ashopton was larger & busier than Derwent, in December 1941, it was home to up to 100 residents along with a chapel & the Ashopton Inn  - a large coaching inn which stood at a crossroads on the main road between Sheffield & Glossop, & served as a stopover on the Sheffield-Manchester route. Ashopton boasted a Post Office & General Store, an 1840 Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, a garage and numerous pretty stone houses & farms. Its industry revolved around farming and an annual wool fair was held every July.

Despite fierce local opposition, the buildings in both villages were compulsory purchased by the Derwent Valley Water Board between 1935 and 1945. The people living there were forced to move to the nearby village of Bamford.

The bodies of their relatives were exhumed from the churchyard and the buildings demolished.

The church of St John & St James in Derwent held its final service on 17th March 1943. The final service at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Ashopton was on 25th September 1939, with the last hymn reportedly being ‘The Day’s Dying in the West’. The chapel was demolished in 1943.

Not all Derwent’s buildings were sacrificed for the construction of the reservoir. A few of the houses remain.

A 17th century packhorse bridge that once crossed the River Derwent close to the Hall was saved. When the Derwent Hall was demolished, it was removed stone by stone & rebuilt at the head of Howden Reservoir in 1959.

It took 2 years for the valley to be completely flooded & culminated in 1947 with the official opening of Ladybower Reservoir. What was left of both villages was swallowed up as the Ladybower Reservoir was filled to capacity in 1945.

Construction of the Ashopton Viaduct, it opened in 1943

Ashopton village in the shadow of the Viaduct

Beneath the water's surface the remains of Ashopton village are buried in the reservoir silt. Only the arches of the Viaduct are visible above the water.

Ladybower Reservoir

Source: Rural Historia

And what about the construction of the reservoirs and the dam workers in their Tin Town - that is another story...

 

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Bram Stoker was born on 8 November 1847 in Clontarf Ireland, and attended Trinity College in Dublin. He died on 20 April 1912 aged 64, in London.

 

Mostly remembered for the gothic horror novel "Dracula", which became the classic that many other horror novels were compared against and it spawned countless film and television versions. 

Stoker was inspired by places he had visited and holidayed in.

Near Cruden in Scotland is 'Slain's Castle' seen on a foggy morning the ruins have all the elements for a horror tale. 

 Slain's Castle was the source material for Dracula's Castle. Stoker visited the area staying at the hotel from 1892 till 1910 and began writing "Dracula" there in 1895. He describes its octagonal room in the novel. 

But truly many of its rooms with bricked up doorways, long narrow passageways and circular towers of spiral stairs lend themselves to the eerie and mysterious.

Especially the underground cellar-room of very crypt-like storage niches.

The other important Stoker "Dracula" location is Whitby on the Yorkshire coast. Again Stoker stayed here, and gained inspiration from the wreck of the ship Dimitry/Dimitri which did run aground below Whitby's East Cliff. Atop the cliff stands the stark ruins of Whitby Abbey and the churchyard of St Marys. 

Another inspiring location, deemed possible, is the grave of Lucy Westenra (the friend of Mina who becomes a vampiress) believed to be in London at Highgate Cemetery - the sun rises over Hampstead Heath, where Lucy was buried.

Highgate Cemetery has been utilised many times as a location for both books and film.

All hauntingly beautiful and spectral.

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Thirds 

I’ve encountered elements of Sir Walter Scott three times.

Firstly at the Wallace National Monument in Stirling, secondly at Scott’s View between Melrose and Dryburgh, and finally at Scott’s burial place at Dryburgh Abbey.

Scott’s bust in the Hall of Heroes at the National Monument 

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh on 15 August 1771. As a child he was raised listening to the stories of the people and histories of the Scottish Borders, a voracious reader he enjoyed historical, romantic, poetical and prose works. Walter also explored his natural environment, developing a lifelong appreciation of the natural beauty of the countryside and its role in the struggles of the Scottish people.

‘Scott’s View’ Lookout overlooking the River Tweed valley

His early life laid the basis for his poems and novels. His best remember poem "The Lady of the Loch" of Ellen Douglas. While among the favourites of his novels are "Rob Roy", "Ivanhoe" and "The Waverley novels. all heavily influenced by his Scottish heritage.

The Scott Chapel at Dryburgh

Sir Walter Scott died at his home Abbotsford near Melrose on 21 September 1832 and was buried with other members of his family in a chapel of Dryburgh Abbey. It was said that as the funeral procession passed his favourite lookout, his horse paused for one final time.

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A second bite.

Dublin and Trinity College are both associated with literature.

It is the home of the Long Room - the grand library with its barrel vaulted ceiling and shelves of historic Irish literature bookended with busts of literary greats. The room has been an inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts, and used as the Jedi Library in "Star Wars".

The most famous book at Trinity though is "The Book of Kells", the Medieval monastic manuscript of the four gospels. Transcribed on the island of Iona, it was transported to Kells for safety and later gifted to Trinity.

Oliver Goldsmith’s statue in a poppy field beside the main entrance to Trinity College. Oliver was born in Lissoy County Westmeath. He studied at Trinity as did his brother Henry. A writer and poet, he is best known for his novel “The Vicar of Wakefield”.

Always known for its strong musical traditions Ireland has supported many musical forms from folk to rock, and one of her sons Phil Lynott, the lead singer of Thin Lizzy, and the voice of the parson on Jefff Wayne’s musical version of “The War of the Worlds”.

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Our first stop - London, home to many literary references/places, here are just a few in Highgate Cemetery.

I still remember the demand for library copies of Alan Sillitoe’s “Loneliness of the long distance runner”, he was born in 1928 and died in 2010 and his headstone is in Highgate East Cemetery.

The headstone of author Alan Sillitoe

 Douglas Adams most famous for the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy series. People who visit leave pens, plus some ‘42’ references (Deepthought’s answer to the ultimate question) & there was also a towel, now somewhat weathered. 

Highgate is also the resting place of Mary Ann Evan’s, known more famously as George Eliot. She was a female novelist of the Victorian era who wrote “The Mill on the Floss”, “Silas Marner”, “Adam Bede” and more.

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While the Bibliophile blog has been in recess for some time, now is an ideal opportunity to bring it out of semi-retirement, masquerading as a literary travel blog.

Hopefully In the next few posts will be some photographs and a small amount of information on locations real & imagined as seen in books and films & tv.

Posts will be authored in the field on a phone - so no levels of sophistication or formatting, and subject to varying or non-existent connectivity.

Stay tuned...