My grandparents lost their home when Ashopton village was flooded. I remember hearing them speak about it grandma crying and everyone comforting her when I Was about 5 years old i’m in my seventies now but that has always stuck in my memory.
I really enjoyed watching this. Such a shame that such beautiful heritage was lost. Having visited Ladybower a few times, it was lovely to hear its history, even though a little sad too.
I grew up in Dore, W Sheffield in the Fifties and we would have days out at Ladybower, I remember sailing on a small dinghy there in my early childhood. Like so many other places in industrial northern England water was a massive necessity and many villages were submerged by dams to provide water for industry and population expansion, it happened throughout the country but especially up North in the Pennines and the Lake District to supply the major cities and industries with water. There are hundreds of examples of this, my most memorable are Haweswater, in the eastern lake District to supply Manchester, Blubber houses in West Yorkshire to supply Leeds/Bradford, and thousands of minor dams to supply water locally, I now live in Pendle which has dozens of small dams since old mill days that now supply town water, sweet and fresh. Thanks for your video, it reminded me of my childhood there, and the facts of such a vital, primal resource, now a commodity, rip off privatisation of basic need, ........
There's a blast from the past. We came here on a 3 or 4 day school field trip in 1990 October. I was in year 10, and remember the dam busters story and the lost village very clearly. It was completely under water at the time. When we arrived we were all given bikes to cycle around and take notes, there was an information board there showing that black and white photo of a church steeple out of the water. We thought it was a bit sad to loose a village like that. It took us hours to get to the peak district coming from the south east. We came in two yellow, noisy, slow and smokey Freight Rover Sherpa minibuses, and stayed in a hostel somewhere in the peaks I think. We also visited some moorlands and Castleton and I seem to remember there was alot of drizzle, fog and stone buildings there, and a big shopping centre in Sheffield before heading back if I remember rightly. I was probably too young to appreciate the beauty of the area.
Wow! That is SO interesting! The black and white picture of the church's steeple as it was being submerged is quite a photo! I wonder if there is any "video" of that as it was occurring back then. Great video. I love how you talked about the people who lived there! Thank you for the information!
A well-crafted, informative video. The evocative music adds to the eerie feeling of being amongst those lost homes. Suzanne revealed not only her knowledge, but her heartfelt connection with the area. Beautiful autumn colours, too. Well done!
That is such a lovely comment Linda, thank you. I think it's really important that people don't forget the villages, and it's such a rare opportunity to see the ruins.
Great video. Was just here (September 22) the water is down again, similar to this video, but you explained and answered what we had been wondering about it. Thanks!
Fascinating - when you admire beautiful scenery that is man-made you don’t really think about what was there before - never knew this about Ladybower - very sad.
Thankyou that was incredibly well presented and as u say humbling, the things men do often make me wonder Why Why Why. Maybe one day they'll leave something beautiful alone to just be. 🇦🇺🌈
I noticed what looks like a pump house or valve chamber at Derwent village in your film. I suspect a now redundant pipe line from the Derwent Dam and Howden ran down the valley through Derwent village and also through Ashopton as these dams were built twenty + years before Ladybower. I noticed a few days ago on the local TV channel, where I live, that there is one of these valve chambers or pumphouse buildings just off the Fishery office at Ladybower so there is one remaining structure visible from the village of Ashopton. I think they said it was the first time any structure from Ashopton has emerged or been seen in a long time. In fact, it could be a first so the reservoirs must be at an all time low. Its right at the end of the walkway used by anglers to reach the boats and isn’t far from Ladybower Dam. Millions probably do visit this area as it’s the second most visited national park in the world and second only to Mount Fuji National Park in Japan.
They say the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I'm not sure that would have been much comfort to most of the villagers, who lost not only their homes but their entire communities, with no chance of going back to visit. A very sad thought.
Great video, keep them coming. Nicley edited but would liked to have seen more of the area as it is now during the dry time. May not get that chance again.
Hey Suzanne I went to Ladybower yesterday and it was fascinating. The water level is still low and the ruined buildings are visible. Like you said it was a little eerie but also a little emotional treading in the footsteps of the people who lived there all them years ago. Loved your video, very informative, please do more.
Sharon Prior thank you ever so much! Please subscribe if you haven’t already, I’ll keep doing more videos from the hidden parts of the Peak District. :-)
Hi lovely information I ride my mtb up in the peaks n Ladybower too n its absolutely amazing! Thanks for the info on the two villages never new the names n a new subscriber is on the cards! 🙏🏻
Hi Suzanne I have just come across your channel well worth watching great camera work and very informative of the area never been my self I think i'm going to have to go and have a look around myself. Thanks for sharing must subscribe and watch the others. See you in the next keep them coming very interesting to watch.
That was a really good documentary but it's so sad that all that community was dispersed. I'm from Manchester and of course so many buildings were cleared in the 1960's. I can see them so clearly in my mind's eye!
Here in America there is a reservoir about 10 miles away that also flooded a village called Triadelphia which the reservoir is named after and when the water goes down or they drain it for repair the old foundations show. It's such a pity a beautiful church and those places got flooded. Why can't they flood places that have no villages? I was visiting Northumbria in the border country of England and went to Kielder Water and it was lovely but don't know if any villages got flooded.
So sad that such a beautiful place was destroyed. The photos of the past show that it was a lovely little town and I can't even imagine what it was like for the citizens to have "home" flooded and wiped away. All they had left were memories...I would have been furious if they did this to my home!
I just visited this area a few weeks ago. I had no idea of the history here. I'm from the States, it is a beautiful place, but it must have been so hard for people to leave their homes... Kinda sad.
Anyone who’s interested in this subject and also likes reading crime detective novels, please try ‘Cut to the Bone’ by Roz Watkins. It’s set right here in this location, and the reservoir plays a big part. 5 star recommendation!
That's very sad. If I visited I think I would be very moved. To think that once the seasons turned and the years and all the lives that called that drowned village home. Cats and dogs and all manner of animals roamed and slept in the sun... Progress?? Ruination. 😔😔
shouldn't the reservoir be more full by now? it's sad to think that a reservoir is so low. i know we had a very long dry summer but the north west has had lots of rain since. if there isn't much rain this year it will almost certainly dry up.
It is ironic that siltation will be the ultimate fate of all the reservoirs in the peak district as the silting of the basen of the valley will mean that water will no longer be able to collect and as a result, the reservoirs eventually dry up; that also means that all the drowned villages will be lost to history being buried under tonnes of silt.
Just wanted to mention that not all the houses were demolished 3 were meticulously disassembled stored over the wars and then reassembled near the waterworks itself
old inhabitants talk of an even greater beauty before the devastating inundation. A great work of engineering though. I am torn between my heart and my intellect. being an artist though , my heart tends to win; my sympathies are aligned with the lost world. Alas life always moves on, we cannot hold on to the past. new generations soon adapt or are not even aware of of what had happened before in their ever changing landscape. Mores the pity.
The reservoir was obviously needed. However given the historical and cultural issues, never mind the social concerns, I don't believe it would have received planning permission today..
Geoffrey Lee It's about eleven miles from the centre of SHEFFIELD, a city in northern England.There is a man called Patrick Dickensian who has a video on RU-vid about the overflow system at Ladybower ("Patrick Dickenson Ladybower Reservoir Overflow" I think it's called.He also has one about a massive underground storm drain system called the Megatron, which was built in about 1860, is about 55feet underground,and covers the whole of Sheffield city centre.
Hi You don't pronounce Ashopton like that - it's a soft o. The buildings uncovered are valve houses (not pump houses) and the pipes actually pass inside Ashopton viaduct on their way to the Bamford filters.
Very informative video. Not sure if it's just me but I cringe a little when people hold their phone that close to their face (I know you've probably got it at arms length) to be honest I covered your face up with my hand while listening. It's not just your face anybody's face this close on a tablet screen is to close. I think a selfie stick would be a great improvement, also it would give you more freedom to move around while talking and getting more of the scenery in while you're still in shot. Please try one, they're such a massive improvement on selfie video's. 👍
probably a fault on the film but did anyone else notice a ghostly figure walking by the shoreline just above the left hand pillar at about 3.34 to 3.39?
In the states they call this imminent domaine..where the government comes up and tells you they need your property “for the better community good”. You really don’t have much of a choice…so you accept their terms..sad really and dare I say unfair.
Sorry to hear that Chrissy, one other person has mentioned that too but we can't get it to do the same thing for us so I'm afraid it's hard to work out why.
