On Air - On Site : 48 Hours of Radio Art

Airing on May 23rd 21:00 CEST
The drowned villages of the Derwent valley
Genre: Soundscape Composition
Duration: 30 min
To accommodate the increasing need for fresh water supplies for East Midlands residents in the early 1940’s the decision was made to build a new reservoir by flooding the two villages of Derwent and Ashopton. Residents were relocated to other areas and the new Ladybower reservoir was officially opened in 1945. Bodies from the graveyard of Derwent church were exhumed and reburied in the village of Bamford. Although most of the buildings were demolished the church spire remained as a memorial and was the last remnant of the village to endure before it too was finally submerged beneath the rising waters. To the consternaJon of many, on one parJcularly dry summer when water levels dropped the church spire emerged from the depths once more.

“At these (mes, locals would return to gaze at the eerie spectacle in morbid fascina(on, as if to remind themselves the village had once been a reality. Some swore they could hear the church bell ringing out across the waters...” *

Amidst concerns for safety the spire was dynamited in 1947 and the bell from the church was removed and later installed in the new church of St. Philips in Chaddesden, Derby in 1955 where it remains to this day. A recording I made of the Derwent bell in its new locaJon provides the main source material for this composiJon along with field recordings taken around the present-day site of Ladybower reservoir.

Silt has covered the remains of the buildings of Ashopton village meaning that they will never re-emerge even in the event of low water levels. At the centre of the village was a Methodist chapel which was finally demolished in 1943. The final hymn to be sung before its doors closed forever was “The Day is Dying in the West”. Recordings of this hymn and readings of the lyrics have also been incorporated into the piece.

* Quote from ‘The lost villages of the Derwent Valley’ by Helen Moat.

Featuring:

Mark Vernon

Mark Vernon is a Glasgow based artist who explores notions of audio archaeology, magnetic memory and nostalgia through his sound and radio works. At the core of his practice lies a fascination with the intimacy of the radio voice, environmental sound and the re-appropriation of found recordings.

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