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The Submerged Village of Derwent (Part 3)

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Between 1935 and 1945 a large dam was built across the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. As a result, the picturesque villages of Derwent and Ashopton were submerged. This video shows the remains of Derwent village in January 1996 during a period of drought.

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The Submerged Village of Derwent (Part 2)

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Between 1935 and 1945 a large dam was built across the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. As a result, the picturesque villages of Derwent and Ashopton were submerged. This video shows the remains of Derwent village in January 1996 during a period of drought.

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Memorial to Tip in the Derwent valley. Derbyshire shepherd Joseph Tagg lost his life on Howden Moor, in the Upper Derwent Valley. His loyal sheepdog Tip stayed by his side through a severe Derbyshire winter.

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The bridge was dismantled stone by stone and rebuilt at  Slippery Stones about a mile away above the head of Howden Dam

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The effigy of Peeping Tom from the stables at Derwent Hall

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The effigy of Peeping Tom from the stables at Derwent Hall

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Rescued and later installed at a youth hostel near Castleton

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Peeping Tom from Derwent Hall peeped from the parapet of Derwent Hall's stables before being rescued when the Hall was lost beneath the Derwent reservoir. The hall was built in 1692 by the Balguy family and subsequently became the seat of the Duke of Norfolk and in 1932 it was the first stately home to become a Youth hostel.

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The Families – Source ‘Crosses
of the Peak District’ by Neville T Sharpe.

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The Families – Source ‘Crosses
of the Peak District’ by Neville T Sharpe.

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Many of the families of the fallen had lived in the area for centuries.

In 1891 there were Cottrills at Gores Farm; Eyres at Alport and Marebottom farms; Thorpes at Wellhead.

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The cross was carved by Arthur Dane an Eyam stonemason. Many of the families of the fallen had lived in the area for centuries.

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The WW1 Memorial in its original location - now submerged

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The WW1 Memorial in its original location - now submerged

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Vulcan Bomber & Double Avro Lancaster Bombers

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Lancaster and Tornado flyby Derwent Dam to commemmorate 65th anniversary of 617 Sqn's "Dams Raid"

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The Submerged Village of Derwent (Part 1)

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Between 1935 and 1945 a large dam was built across the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. As a result, the picturesque villages of Derwent and Ashopton were submerged. This video shows the remains of Derwent village in January 1996 during a period of drought.

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This photograph is taken from a BBC film about Ladybower reservoir made in the 1960's and on show here. The reservoir was formed in 1943 by flooding the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, including the two villages of Derwent and Ashopton. The church spire of Derwent could be seen when the water level was low. Unfortunately it was later demolished destroying the fabulous surreality of it looming out of the water.

It's a disquieting picture, an eerie combination of utilitarian infrastructure and apocalyptic imagery. It has the absurd quality of a fake, like those photographs of fairies and ghosts beloved of the Victorians. Perhaps it even is a fake, although the church tower was genuinely there.

A number of villages were flooded as a result of the need for water supply in cities likes Derby and Sheffield and Ladybower is one of three in the Derwent Valley alone. As a child I remember a story of one near the village where my parents lived when they were first married which had subsequently been drained leaving the remains of the village once more visible.

This process was like a 20th century version of emparking, the removal of unsightly villages by 18th century landowners as they sought to sculpt the countryside around their houses into three dimensional versions of classical paintings. The remains of these abandoned villages were co-opted into this vision as romantic grottos and ruined cottages.

At Ladybower though the reason behind these dramatic spatial transformations of landscape was ostensibly benevolent although its results were no less violent. Indeed, in a strange reversal of this history the stately home of Derwent Hall was also flooded. Its remains are still visible during low water levels so that it has become its own romantic ruin.

The resulting reservoirs are a hybrid of nature and machine, hugely impressive feats of engineering disguised as natural lakes, their water towers and viaducts rendered as medieval castles and Palladian bridges. The same surreal mix of futurism and picturesque fantasy that occurred in Victorian structures like Tower Bridge and in the science fiction fantasies of Jules Verne.

Looking at early photographs of the reservoir infrastructure, the elegant gates and stone balustrades are like the entrance to the landscaped garden of a stately home. But the home itself is no longer there and lies in fact in ruins on the water bed. The landscape and its villages has been dramatically reconfugured not as a result of the aesthetics of 18th century painting but the abstract dynamics of 20th water supply.

Picture above taken from the Francis Frith archive

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This photograph is taken from a BBC film about Ladybower reservoir made in the 1960's and on show here. The reservoir was formed in 1943 by flooding the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, including the two villages of Derwent and Ashopton. The church spire of Derwent could be seen when the water level was low.

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Derwent Village during low water in 1947

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Derwent Village during low water in 1947

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British Pathe, the world's leading multimedia resource with a history stretching back over a century. The finest and most comprehensive archive of fabulous footage and stunning stills.

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Derwent Hall - demolished in 1944 to make way for Ladybower resevoir

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Derwent Hall - demolished in 1944 to make way for Ladybower resevoir

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England's Lost Country Houses | Derwent Hall

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Built in 1672 for Henry Balguy of The Hagg (another seat nearby), Derwent Hall replaced an earlier house. However it was to end its life as a victim of the industrial growth of Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester and their increased need for water.