History of Snake Pass

The road we now know as Snake Pass opened on 23 August 1821 as part of the Sheffield to Glossop Turnpike.

It was created to provide a more direct road connection across the Pennines between Sheffield and Glossop, at a time when manufacturing and trade were growing rapidly on both sides of the hills.

Before the turnpike was built, travellers crossing this part of the Peak District relied on much older tracks, including Doctor's Gate.

More than two centuries later, much of the route opened in 1821 still forms the basis of the modern A57 Snake Pass.

Long before the modern Snake Pass existed, Doctor's Gate provided a route across the hills between Glossop and the Upper Derwent Valley.

The track follows the valley of Shelf Brook before crossing high ground towards the eastern side of the Pennines. It was historically used as a packhorse route, carrying people and goods through terrain where wheeled transport was difficult.

Doctor's Gate is sometimes described as a Roman road linking the Roman forts at Melandra, near Glossop, and Brough in the Hope Valley. However, its Roman origin has never been conclusively proved.

Derbyshire's Historic Environment Record notes that the route is recorded in 1627 as "Docto Talbotes Gate". Archaeological investigations have found sections of metalled track, but this alone does not confirm a Roman date because later packhorse routes were also surfaced in this way.

Parts of Doctor's Gate can still be followed today and the route remains popular with walkers and mountain bikers.

By the early 19th century, the old packhorse routes were no longer adequate for the increasing movement of goods and passengers between Manchester, Glossop and Sheffield.

An Act of Parliament was passed in 1818 allowing a new turnpike road to be built between Sheffield and Glossop.

The scheme was backed by two major landowners, the Duke of Norfolk, who held interests around Sheffield and Glossop, and the Duke of Devonshire, whose estate included land in the Ashop Valley.

Unlike many turnpikes of the period, which improved existing roads, much of the new route had to be created across difficult and exposed Pennine terrain.

Glossop Heritage Trust records that Sheffield surveyor William Fairbank was employed to design and build the road. When construction ran into difficulties, the famous road builder John Loudon McAdam and his son were brought in to help complete the project.

The first coach crossed the new road on 23 August 1821.

The new turnpike cost around £18,625 to construct, a substantial investment in the early 19th century.

The road provided a considerably more direct route between Sheffield and Glossop and was initially expected to attract large amounts of coach and commercial traffic.

It soon faced competition, however. Improvements were also being made to alternative trans-Pennine routes, including the road through Woodhead and the route towards Chapel-en-le-Frith.

Snake Pass was also higher and more vulnerable to snow and severe weather than some competing routes. Traffic and toll income did not reach the levels originally hoped for.

One of the most common stories about Snake Pass is that it was named after its twisting bends.

The name actually comes from the historic Snake Inn beside the road.

The inn took its name from the serpent associated with the Cavendish family, the family of the Dukes of Devonshire, who owned much of the surrounding land.

Over time, travellers began referring to the road itself by the name of the inn, and "Snake Pass" gradually became the familiar name for the route.

The winding road makes the name seem particularly appropriate, but the bends themselves are not believed to be the original reason for it.

The Snake Inn became one of the best-known landmarks on the route.

Built alongside the new turnpike in the early 19th century, it provided food, drink and shelter for travellers crossing the isolated Pennine road.

In the coaching era, inns were an essential part of long-distance road travel. Horses needed rest and replacement, while passengers needed somewhere to stop during difficult journeys across exposed countryside.

After long-distance coach traffic declined, the inn continued to serve walkers, cyclists, motorists and visitors to the Peak District.

It was later known as the Snake Pass Inn, reversing the original relationship between the two names, because the inn had originally given its name to the road.

The pub closed in October 2019. The site has continued to be associated with accommodation, but the traditional public house has remained closed.

Snake Pass's period as an important long-distance coaching route was relatively short.

The opening of the railway between Manchester and Sheffield in 1845 transformed travel across the Pennines. Rail could carry passengers and goods more quickly and reliably than horse-drawn coaches crossing the high moors.

Glossop Heritage Trust describes the railway as effectively ending Snake Pass's importance as a major inter-city route only around 24 years after the turnpike opened.

The road remained important locally and increasingly became a destination in its own right. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was attracting cyclists, early motorists and visitors exploring the Peak District.

Another major change arrived more than a century after the road opened.

Ladybower Reservoir was constructed between 1935 and 1943 and filled by 1945 as part of the Upper Derwent Valley water supply system.

Creating the reservoir flooded large areas of the valley and submerged the villages of Ashopton and Derwent. Existing roads through the valley also had to be replaced or altered.

The Ashopton Viaduct was constructed as part of the reservoir project to carry the road from Snake Pass across the new reservoir.

Today, the viaduct forms one of the most recognisable sections of the A57 and marks the eastern end of the Snake Pass route beside Ladybower.

The road became part of the A57 in the 20th century.

In 1946, the Snake Pass section was incorporated into the cross-country A57 route, connecting Liverpool in the west with destinations across northern England.

Although Snake Pass remains one of the shortest road routes between Manchester and Sheffield, the lower Woodhead Pass to the north later became the main signposted trans-Pennine road between the two cities.

Landslips are sometimes thought of as a modern problem on Snake Pass, but unstable ground has affected the road since its earliest years.

The original turnpike was constructed across steep slopes and difficult geology. Historical accounts describe slipping ground as one of the challenges faced by the road from the beginning.

Heavy rainfall can saturate the ground beneath and beside the road, increasing the risk of movement. Over time this has repeatedly damaged sections of the A57 and required major engineering work.

One particularly severe period came in 1985 and 1986, when landslip problems contributed to Snake Pass being closed for around 15 weeks.

The problem remains very much part of the road's modern history. Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin caused major ground movement in February 2022, resulting in another significant closure.

More than two centuries after the turnpike opened, engineers are still dealing with the same difficult landscape.

Derbyshire County Council currently identifies four significant landslip locations along Snake Pass, at Doctor's Gate, Alport, Gillott Hey and Wood Cottage.

In June and July 2026, the A57 was closed for three weeks while boreholes were drilled around the Doctor's Gate landslip. The investigation was designed to establish the soil and rock conditions beneath the road and help engineers develop a permanent repair.

The continuing work shows how the geography that made Snake Pass such an ambitious road in 1821 remains one of its biggest challenges today, and landslips are still one of the main reasons Snake Pass closes.

Snake Pass has changed considerably since the first coaches crossed it in 1821, but the purpose of the road remains remarkably similar.

It still provides a direct route across the Pennines between Glossop and the Sheffield side of the Peak District, climbing through some of the highest and most exposed road terrain in Derbyshire.

The coaches and toll gates have disappeared, Ladybower Reservoir has transformed the eastern end of the valley and the road is now part of the A57, but snow, difficult terrain and unstable ground continue to shape the story of Snake Pass more than 200 years after it opened.