Snake Pass | |
---|---|
Elevation | 1,680 feet (510 m) |
Traversed by | A57 |
Location | High Peak Estate, Peak District, Derbyshire, England |
Range | Pennines |
Coordinates | 53°25′58″N1°52′08″W / 53.4329°N 1.8689°W |
Shown within Derbyshire |
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 road between Manchester and Sheffield, but it is no longer the main signposted route between those two cities, with traffic instead directed through the Woodhead Pass to the north.
Like several other roads that cross the Pennines, Snake Pass has a poor accident record compared with roads in the UK generally, although more favourable compared with other roads in the area. It is often closed in winter because of snow, and has seen several longer-term closures owing to subsidence following heavy rain. The road remains a popular route for tourists and motorcycles, however, and sections have been used for semi-professional cycling races such as the Tour of Britain.
Snake Pass runs through the National Trust's High Peak Estate, and lies within the High Peak borough of Derbyshire; much of it falls within the Hope Woodlands parish, the remainder being within the Charlesworth parish. [1] [2] It is part of the shortest route by road from Manchester to Sheffield. [3]
The pass starts east of Glossop and climbs to the Pennines watershed between the moorland plateaux of Kinder Scout and Bleaklow to a high point of 1,680 feet (510 m) above sea level, where it crosses the Pennine Way. After this, it passes a public house that used to be known as the Snake Inn, and descends through forest to the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. [1]
The name of the road matches its winding route, but actually derives from the emblem of the Snake Inn, one of the few buildings on the high stretch of road. In turn, the pub's name and sign were derived from the serpent on the Cavendish arms of William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. [4] In the early 21st century, the inn was renamed the Snake Pass Inn, such that the inn now refers to the road that referred to itself. [4] [5]
An ancient road between Glossop and Ashopton was the Doctor's Gate, which follows the Shelf Brook between Shelf Moor and Coldharbour Moor. [6] It is marked on some maps as a Roman road, though this is disputed. [7] The route is now popular with walkers and mountain bikers. [8] In 1932, an Iron Age axe thought to be more than 2,000 years old was found near the site of this road. [9]
The current road further south was designed as a toll road by Thomas Telford [10] to improve communications east of Glossop, which was expanding as an industrial town. [11] It was originally called the Sheffield to Glossop Turnpike and run by a turnpike trust, the Sheffield and Glossop Trust. An act of parliament to build the road was passed in 1818, [a] and construction was financed by the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Devonshire. [16] The road opened in 1821, [10] having cost £18,625 to build [16] (equivalent to £2 million in 2023 [17] ). Upon opening, it was the highest turnpike road in England. [18] The road was immediately popular and increased toll collections of traffic heading to Glossop. [19] Tolls were abolished on the road in June 1870. [20]
The eastern end of the pass is by the River Derwent. The river is bridged by the Ashopton Viaduct, built as part of the Ladybower Reservoir project between 1935 and 1945. [21]
Although Snake Pass is still the shortest route between Manchester and Sheffield, the more northerly Woodhead Pass, which is less steep and at a lower altitude, is now the primary road link between the two cities. [22] Unlike Snake Pass, the Woodhead route is a trunk road. [23] [24] [22] Traffic levels on both passes remained similar until the 1980s, [25] but the Woodhead Pass route is now favoured [24] as it connects directly to the M1, while Snake Pass leads into the centre of Sheffield.
Despite Sheffield and Manchester being among the largest UK cities by population, [26] there is no direct motorway link between the two. The M67 was originally proposed to be a Manchester to Sheffield motorway, but only a small section bypassing Denton and Hyde was actually built. [27] [28] The Woodhead Tunnel, which carried a Sheffield to Manchester railway line, was closed in 1981, and it was proposed to use it as part of a motorway link [29] but linking the cities by road would have meant constructing many costly tunnels and viaducts across the Peak District. Consequently, the plans were shelved, but reports in December 2014 announced a revival of the ambition for a road tunnel to avoid the passes. [30]
In 1979, the Department of Transport considered closing the road with traffic to be diverted to use the A628. [31]
The road remains popular with drivers. A 2008 survey by Caterham Cars rated Snake Pass the best driving road in the UK. [32] The following year, it was listed as one of the best roads for driving in Britain by Auto Trader magazine, who described it as "offering unparalleled views over Manchester". [33]
As would be expected for a road crossing the Pennines, Snake Pass has several dangerous bends and blind summits. [5] Like many roads in the North of England passing through similar terrain, Snake Pass has a poor safety record in comparison to other roads in the United Kingdom [34] but it is not as dangerous as other roads bisecting hilly terrain in this part of England. It was not among the top ten in lists of the most dangerous roads published by the Road Safety Foundation for EuroRAP in June 2007 and in July 2010, despite nine of the top ten being in Northern England. [35] [36]
In 2012, Derbyshire Police announced a campaign to monitor motorcyclists using the pass, who are particularly at risk of being involved in a fatal accident. [37]
Incidents of people being overtaken by bad weather in Snake Pass, and in particular the deaths of three walkers in 1964, led to the organisation of Peak District Mountain Rescue. [38]
In winter the road is often the first of the routes between Sheffield and Manchester to be closed following snow in the area. [39] In bad storms the entire road over the summit, including marker poles, has been buried in snow. [18] Derbyshire County Council, who are the highway authority for Snake Pass, class the route as a priority for gritting [40] which is pre-treated ahead of icy weather. [41] The local borough council, High Peak Borough Council, who are not responsible for gritting, have stated that they would prefer streets in towns and villages were treated instead, as they believe that roads such as Snake Pass will be closed anyway. [42]
In 1924, Derbyshire County Council spent £2,000 (equivalent to £144,000 in 2023 [17] ) installing underground telegraph wire cables beneath the road, as the above-ground installations were continually broken and disrupted following snowstorms. [18] The British winter of 2010–11 was the coldest for decades and the road was closed on numerous occasions. [43] [44]
Snake Pass has also been closed for longer periods owing to subsidence in the local area following rain. In January 1932, the road was closed after 200 tonnes of debris fell on it during a heavy rainstorm, covering the surface in as much as 4 feet (1.2 m) in places. [45] In January 2008, a landslip at Cowms Moor following heavy rain caused the road to be closed to all traffic between Ladybower and Glossop, although access was still available to local premises and businesses including the Snake Pass Inn. [46] [47] A subsequent investigation by the British Geological Survey showed the road has had a history of subsidence-related long-term closures dating back to the 1930s, including a 1970s project that attempted to strengthen the layer below the tarmac with local rock fill. The road reopened in February, but with temporary traffic lights at the point of the slip restricting traffic to one direction at a time. [47] In 2012, the road had to be closed several times for resurfacing and strengthening. [48]
In February 2022, Snake Pass was closed to motor vehicles after Storm Eunice caused heavy rain leading to subsidence. Inspectors examining the road found three slumps in a single mile-long section. [49] Two weeks later, the closure was extended to bicycles, prompting protests; it was reopened on 31 March with weight restrictions and traffic light sections. [50] [51] That August, the council announced it would be partially closed again to investigate collapses, while the road would be examined with a drilling rig. [52] [53]
In May 2023, the road was closed again after Storm Franklin brought heavy rainfall to the region, causing landslips of up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). The closure extended from the turnoff at Fairholmes to the summit. [54]
Snake Pass is a popular route for cyclists. A 1902 report on leisure cycling in the Lancashire Evening Post described the eastward journey from the summit to Ashopton as "nine miles unbroken freewheeling" and the scenery as "magnificent". [55] The road is one of only a few road climbs in the UK that are comparable in length and average gradient (approximately 7 per cent for around 3.2 miles (5.1 km) when starting in Glossop) to those used in continental cycle racing. [56] The road had been part of an 82-mile (132 km) "Tour of the Peak" race, involving climbing the pass twice, [57] and has frequently featured in the Tour of Britain along with another nearby favourite, Holme Moss. [56]
Cycling Time Trials sanctioned hill climbs are regularly promoted on this course by local club Glossop Kinder Velo. [58] The record for completing the course is 11 minutes 51 seconds, which was set by Tejvan Pettinger in 2014. [58] [59]
The annual Four Inns Walk has traditionally used parts of the route. [38]
Between October 2020 and January 2022, Hulleys of Baslow operated the X57 Snake bus route, which ran between Sheffield and Manchester via the Snake Pass. [60] The service was withdrawn on 9 January 2022 because low ridership made the route unsustainable. [61]
Snake Pass has been referred to several times by music groups. The track "The Snake" by Sheffield band The Human League, from their 2001 album Secrets , is about the road. [62] The Squarepusher album Selection Sixteen features a track entitled "Snake Pass", described by Rolling Stone as a "monomaniacal thump". [63]
Comic character John Shuttleworth has performed a song called "Incident on Snake Pass" about the perils of Snake Pass, [64] relating to an accident he claimed to have had, driving a Ford Anglia on the road. [65]
The Peak District is an upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivided into the Dark Peak, moorland dominated by gritstone, and the White Peak, a limestone area with valleys and gorges. The Dark Peak forms an arc on the north, east and west of the district, and the White Peak covers central and southern areas. The highest point is Kinder Scout. Most of the area is within the Peak District National Park, a protected landscape designated in 1951.
Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, 15 miles (24 km) east of Manchester, 24 miles (39 km) north-west of Sheffield and 32 miles (51 km) north of Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, between 150 and 300 metres above sea level, it is bounded by the Peak District National Park to the south, east and north. In 2021, it had a population of 17,825.
Longdendale is a valley in the Peak District of England, north of Glossop and southwest of Holmfirth. The name means "long wooded valley" and the valley is mostly in the counties of Derbyshire and Greater Manchester.
The River Etherow in northern England is a tributary of the River Goyt. Although now passing through South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester, it historically formed the ancient county boundary between Cheshire and Derbyshire. The upper valley is known as Longdendale. The river has a watershed of approximately 30 square miles (78 km2), and the area an annual rainfall of 52.5 inches (1,330 mm).
The M67 is a 5-mile-long (8 km) urban motorway in Greater Manchester, England, which heads east from the M60 motorway passing through Denton and Hyde before ending near Mottram. The road was originally conceived as the first section of a trans-Pennine motorway between Manchester and Sheffield that would connect the A57(M) motorway with the M1 motorway; however, the motorway became the only part to be built.
The A57 is a major road in England. It runs east from Liverpool to Lincoln via Warrington, Salford and Manchester, and then through the Pennines over the Snake Pass (between the high moorlands of Bleaklow and Kinder Scout), around the Ladybower Reservoir, through Sheffield and past Worksop. Between Liverpool and Glossop, the road has largely been superseded by the M62, M602 and M67 motorways. Within Manchester a short stretch becomes the Mancunian Way, designated A57(M).
Bamford is a village in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, close to the River Derwent. To the north-east is Bamford Edge, and to the north-west the Ladybower, Derwent and Howden Reservoirs. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,241.
Hadfield is a town in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England, with a population at the 2021 Census of 6,763. It lies on the south side of the River Etherow, near to the border with Greater Manchester, at the western edge of the Peak District close to Glossop. It doubled as the fictional town of Royston Vasey in the BBC comedy series The League of Gentlemen.
Woodhead is a small and scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the trans-Pennine A628 road connecting Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire, 6 miles (10 km) north of Glossop, 19 miles (31 km) east of Manchester and 18 miles (29 km) west of Barnsley. It is close to the River Etherow and the Trans Pennine Trail. Although part of Derbyshire since 1974, like nearby Tintwistle and Crowden the hamlet was in the historic county of Cheshire.
The Woodhead line was a railway line linking Sheffield, Penistone and Manchester in the north of England. A key feature of the route is the passage under the high moorlands of the northern Peak District through the Woodhead Tunnels. The line was electrified in 1953 and closed between Hadfield and Penistone in 1981.
Holme Moss is high moorland on the border between the Holme Valley district of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and the High Peak district of Derbyshire in England. Historically on the boundary between the West Riding of Yorkshire and Cheshire, it is just inside the boundary of the Peak District National Park. The A6024 road between Holmfirth and Longdendale crosses the moor near its highest point close to Holme Moss transmitting station's prominent mast.
Guide Bridge railway station serves Guide Bridge in Audenshaw, Greater Manchester, England, and is operated by Northern Trains. The station is 4+3⁄4 miles (7.6 km) east of Manchester Piccadilly on both the Rose Hill Marple and Glossop Lines.
The A635 is a main road that runs between Manchester and Doncaster running east–west through Stalybridge, Saddleworth Moor, Holmfirth, Barnsley and the Dearne Valley. The section forming the eastern part of the Mancunian Way is a motorway and is officially designated as the A635(M) though there is no road sign with this designation, and the signs at the entrance of Mancunian Way westbound show A57(M).
The River Alport flows for 5.6 miles (9 km) in the Dark Peak of the Peak District in Derbyshire, England. Its source is on Bleaklow, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Glossop, from which it flows south through the Grains in the Water bog, then over gritstone below the Alport Castles landslide to Alport Bridge on the A57 Snake Pass route from Sheffield to Manchester, where it joins the River Ashop. The Ashop flows into Ladybower Reservoir about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) down the valley, which discharges via the Rivers Derwent and Trent to the North Sea. The source of the Alport is close to the Pennine watershed.
The Longdendale Bypass is a long-planned National Highways road scheme in the Tameside and High Peak districts in England. Its aim is to alleviate traffic congestion on the A57, A628, and A616 routes that presently pass through the villages. There is both support and opposition for this long-planned scheme, which will pass through the valley of Longdendale and part of the Peak District National Park.
The A616 is a road that links Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, to the M1 motorway at Junction 30, then reappears at Junction 35A and goes on to Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
The A628 is a major road connecting Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire in northern England. It crosses the Pennine hills by way of Longdendale and the Woodhead Pass in the Peak District National Park. The road's altitude and exposure to bad weather create problems in winter and the road is sometimes closed due to snow or high winds.
Padfield is a small village near Hadfield in High Peak, Derbyshire, England. The village is on the west side of the Peak District National Park, and the nearest town is Glossop, where many local amenities and services are based. It is in a conservation area. The population as of the 2011 census was 2,796.
Doctor's Gate is a Roman road in the Derbyshire Peak District of England, which ran between Melandra fort at Glossop and Navio fort at Brough-on-Noe. Doctor's Gate was recorded in 1627 as "Docto Talbotes Gate", named after Dr John Talbot who is attributed with improving the summit section in the late 15th century and 'gate' is derived from the Scandinavian word for road.
The X57, often referred to as the Snake, was a bus route that ran between Manchester and Sheffield via Glossop.
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ignored (help)[...] the infamous Snake Pass, which as its name suggests, is a rather dangerous, serpentine route full of flowing bends and blind crests [...]
For well over a century it has appeared on maps as a Roman road, and indeed still does, though some of us had been doubtful for many years.
The Snake Pass was a toll road sanctioned by Act of Parliament in 1818 and opened in 1821, Thomas Telford engineer.
The [Woodhead Pass] crossing replaced the A57 Snake Pass in the early 20th Century, being less arduous. Indeed, the route is mostly made up of more gentle gradients and curves than the Snake Pass [...] the A628 being the major route between Manchester and Sheffield [...]
A628: August 1973. 4,000 vehicles per day [...] July 1983. 4,000 vehicles per day [...] A57: August 1973. 4,800 vehicles per day [...] April 1981. 3,500 vehicles per day
The original plan – half a century ago – was that the M67 would be the start of a trans-Pennine motorway linking Manchester with the M1 in South Yorkshire.
It was the intention that, in due course, the motorway would be extended as an improved route through to Sheffield.
The main rail line between Sheffield and Manchester [...] was run into ruin by the Department of the Environment with the intention that its tunnel could be used as an all-weather route for the motorway through the most mountainous section. It was only when one of the best intercity lines in the country had been fully closed that [...] the new motorway route was subsequently scrapped.
The Snake Pass, which has a poor accident record [...] was once the main signposted route between Manchester and Sheffield, but authorities have since thought better of directing traffic towards this treacherous trail, which is particularly vulnerable to snow and subsidence.
[...] it was suggested that [...] resources be diverted to ensure roads through towns and villages were passable, with less emphasis on roads such as the Snake Pass and Cat & Fiddle road which will inevitably be closed.
The A57 Snake Pass is closed in both directions between the Hurst Road junction in Glossop and the A6013.
The Snake Pass [...] is closed until further notice because of a landslide following heavy rain earlier this week. [...] Access to the Snake Pass Inn is still possible.
[...] one of only a few roads that can compete with the hill stages of Alpine cycling [...]
The fame of the Snake Pass has spread well beyond the Peak District [...] the Human League even wrote a song about it, featuring the refrain: 'Come and join us/Come and join us/From the valley to the hillside/From the upside to the down'.
[...] only the monomaniacal thump of "Snake Pass" delivers the goods.
I had the incident on the Snake Pass in the Ford Anglia.