Masquerade 5

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...