A6020

This article is about the current A6020, a primary route in the Peak District, to the north of Bakewell.
For the original A6020 in Sheffield, see A6020 (Sheffield).

Although only 2 and a half miles long the A6020 has an interesting history. Originally a road in Sheffield, the number was reused for the present road between Ashford-in-the-Water (Derbyshire) and the A619 Bakewell-Baslow road, replacing part of the B6048 which had functioned as a kind of Bakewell northern bypass. Thus a continuous A-road link was created between Buxton and Chesterfield that is now entirely a primary route, the A6020 forming the central link.

When the A6 bypassed Ashford in 1933, the old road through the village became the A6020, a state of affairs that persisted for 46 years until a new bridge was constructed over the River Wye in 1979 south of the village, along with the short relief road to the east. So now Buxton – Chesterfield traffic turns left off the A6 a couple of hundred yards further on than before, to join the new length of A6020 at a conventional T-junction. Almost at once the B6465 leaves on the left to go through Ashford and on to Monsal Head, and on the right the old bridge that once carried the A6 is left to walkers and cyclists.

Route

Monsal Trail over the A6020

We are quickly out of Ashford and heading pretty well due north on a narrowish S2, soon passing on the left the estate wall of Thornbridge Hall, once a teacher training college and originally with its own railway station. The road curves round eastwards through pleasant White Peak countryside, soon to meet the old London St Pancras-Manchester Central Midland line coming in from the left – now sadly defunct as a mainline railway, but with a new lease of life as the Monsal Trail, a long(ish)-distance path that, following their reopening in 2011, takes in four lit tunnels. An unclassified road on the left leads to Great Longstone and soon we pass under a bridge carrying the old railway/Monsal Trail (see photo). Next is a roundabout with the B6001 (ex-A622) Bakewell-Hathersage road; just to the south is the old Hassop station, now a bookshop and tearoom. Straight on, and it's the final bit of our road, a straight, bumpy section that's a little bit of a switchback. Before long we meet the A619: a left turn with most traffic continues the primary route to Baslow and Chesterfield, while a zigzag across takes us onto what's left of the B6048 for Pilsley and Chatsworth. And that's it for the A6020.

Original Author(s): Simon A6(M)

Opening Dates

Year	Section	Notes
1979	Ashford-in-the-Water Relief Road	The eastern bypass from New Road to A6 was due to be opened on 19 December 1979 by Jim Rowley, Chairman of the County Council’s Highways and Works Control Committee (per the Derby Daily Telegraph of 14 December 1979). Cost £600,000.