River Ashop

The River Ashop in the Woodlands Valley and the Snake Pass

The River Ashop is a river in Derbyshire, high in the Peak District. Its source is on the eastern slopes of Mill Hill, three miles south east of Glossop and just north of Kinder Scout. It crosses the fell as the Ashop Clough, before being joined by the Lady Clough in the Snake Pass to form the River Ashop itself.

The Ashop as it is today is a short river, just six miles long since its lower reaches were swallowed up in the Ladybower Reservoir, but on its course it cuts a deep dale through the Peak. The river flows eastwards and south-eastwards, forming part of the Snake Pass (through which runs the Sheffield to Manchester road) all through remote countryside. Eventually it empties into the Ladybower Reservoir, which has been created in the converging valleys of the Ashop and the River Derwent. The water flowing out from below the dam of the reservoir is as the River Derwent.

The only significant tributary of the River Ashop is the short River Alport. The flow of the Alport is partially diverted by a weir to feed into the Ashop above the impound weir built in the 1920s to increase the catchment area of the Derwent Reservoir prior to the building of the Ladybower Reservoir downstream. The weir impounded the water and fed it into an open culvert that was built along the side of the hill. The culvert then feeds into a siphon over the river in an iron pipe six feet in diameter before entering a tunnel to pass through the hill to the Derwent Reservoir by way of an open watercourse, entering the reservoir just north of the dam wall. The concrete structure of the weir is visible when travelling up the Snake Pass.

Recreational use

The Rowlee Bridge on the Alshop

The river is occasionally paddled by kayakers; usually limited to periods after heavy rainfall when the river is in spate, because in times of normal flows the river is too shallow to use.

When the river is in spate it becomes very technical, with many weirs and holes. The river is quite narrow and relatively shallow, making the rocky bed hazardous for kayakers who capsize. By far the most challenging part is in the higher-volume upper section of the river, where a small tributary of the Ashop flows swiftly through a steep tunnel under the road. The river has many obstacles such as fallen trees, and fences which lie across the channel and must be negotiated. This makes it dangerous at times of high water if the river is flowing rapidly.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about River Ashop)

• Location map: 53°24’2"N, 1°46’60"W