Derwent Dam

To build Derwent Dam’s neo-Gothic towers between 1902 and 1916, workers lived in Birchinlee, a purpose-built corrugated iron village nicknamed ‘Tin Town.’ Complete with its own police station, pub, and recreation hall, the settlement grew to roughly 900 residents at its peak, workers and their families included, before being dismantled in stages after 1912, years ahead of the dam’s own completion. One salvaged hut reportedly operates today as a beauty salon in nearby Hope village.

The valley has form for erasing its own settlements. Roughly three decades after Tin Town came down, the villages of Derwent and Ashopton were demolished to make way for Ladybower Reservoir, the local church holding its last service in 1943. Its spire was left standing as a memorial until 1947, when it was dynamited; the villages still resurface in drought years, when the water drops low enough to expose old walls and gateposts. During the Second World War, RAF 617 Squadron used the valley for a different kind of rehearsal, practicing the bouncing-bomb runs that became the Dambusters raid, on a reservoir it was never meant to bomb.