Snake Pass

The Pennine Way crosses Snake Pass at its summit.

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]

The Snake Pass Inn was originally called the Snake Inn, but is now named after the pass itself, which in turn was named after the pub.

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,[lower-alpha 1] 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 £1.7 million in 2021[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]

An abandoned car left hanging off the edge of Snake Pass, 1983

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]

Repair work to one of the highway's retaining walls, June 2015

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 £121,000 in 2021[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 Fairholms 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]

Hulleys of Baslow MCV Evora in Glossop on the final day of the X57 Snake service in January 2022

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]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Snake Pass.

• National Trust description of the area