Ashopton was a small village in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England, in the valley of the River Ashop. The village population was less than 100. Details are included in the civil parish of Aston, Derbyshire. In the early 1940s, the village (along with neighbouring Derwent) was demolished to make way for the filling of

Ladybower Reservoir Ladybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped, artificial reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. The River Ashop flows into the reservoir from the west; the River Derwent flows south, initially through How ...

History

The village was in the chapelry of Derwent. In 1829, Stephen Glover wrote that the village hosted a wool fair on 29 July; he suggested that this was intended to be a tradition continued annually on the last Wednesday of July. The village was located near where the Derwent Valley joins the Snake Valley (route of the current A57

Snake Pass Snake Pass is a hill pass in the Derbyshire section of the Peak District, crossing the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The road was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1821. The pass carries the A57 ...

to Glossop). There are several reminders of the village. One is in the name of the Ashopton Viaduct which carries the A57 across the mouth of the Derwent Valley. The main part of the village was immediately south of the viaduct. Other reminders of the village include Ashopton Sawmill and Ashopton Cottage. Unlike the remains of Derwent village, which have become visible when water levels have dropped, Ashopton will never re-emerge from the waters of Ladybower as

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

has already covered the remains of its buildings. A key part of the village was the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Chapel, built in 1840. The final service was held at the chapel on 25 September 1939. The final hymn sung was "The Day's Dying in the West". The chapel was finally demolished, along with the remaining buildings in the village, in 1943. The Derwent Valley Museum, located on the Derwent Reservoir dam and run privately by Vic Hallam, told the history of the Derwent valley and of Derwent and Ashopton as well as the tale of RAF Squadron 617 and its training for ''

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using sp ...

'' during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The museum has now closed.

References

External links

Villages in Derbyshire Towns and villages of the Peak District History of Derbyshire Former populated places in Derbyshire Forcibly depopulated communities in the United Kingdom High Peak, Derbyshire {{ghost-town-stub