Country Canada Incorporated as a Village 1952 Elevation 335 m | Founded 1880s Time zone PST (UTC−8) Population 1,628 (2011) Local time Sunday 5:12 AM | |
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Weather -2°C, Wind NW at 3 km/h, 95% Humidity | ||
Ashcroft (2011 population 1,628) is a village in the Thompson Country of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is 30 kilometres (19 mi) downstream from the west end of Kamloops Lake, at the confluence of the Bonaparte and Thompson Rivers, and is in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
Contents
- Map of Ashcroft BC Canada
- History
- Geography
- Transportation and communication
- Attractions
- Sister city
- Television and film
- References
Map of Ashcroft, BC, Canada
Ashcroft's downtown is on the east side of the Thompson River, although the municipal boundaries straddle the river, with housing and the town's hospital and recreation complex on the west bank. It is something of a "twin" to nearby Cache Creek, which unlike Ashcroft is on the major highway.
History
Ashcroft was founded in the 1860s, during the Cariboo Gold Rush, by two English brothers named Clement Francis Cornwall and Henry Pennant Cornwall, founders of Ashcroft Ranch, who emigrated to Canada from Ashcroft, at Newington Bagpath in Gloucestershire. The brothers had originally come in search of gold; however, on hearing stories from failed gold searchers they decided to found the town to give future gold searchers a place to saddle their horses. They sold flour to packers and miners, helping to make the community.
In 2001, Ashcroft expanded its boundaries to include the Ashcroft Ranch, which had been bought in 2000 by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) with the intent of using it as the site of a landfill to succeed the Cache Creek sanitary landfill. In 2011, however, the British Columbia government denied an environmental assessment certificate for the landfill, and Metro Vancouver expressed a desire to divest itself of the property.
Geography
The geography in and around Ashcroft resembles that of desert terrain, which has been marketed as sets for the film industry.
Transportation and communication
As a flag stop Via Rail's The Canadian calls at the Ashcroft railway station three times per week in each direction.
Ashcroft is served by a community television station (run by the Ash-Creek Television Society), CH4472 on VHF channel 4 (with an effective radiated power of 74 watts at 15 meters above ground level), with a repeater (CH4473 on VHF 8, with an effective radiated power of 49 watts at 45 meters) in the neighbouring town of Cache Creek.
Attractions
Ashcroft was home to the Nl'akapxm Eagle Motorplex, a ¼-mile IHRA-sanctioned dragstrip, which opened in 1987 and closed in April 2016.
Ashcroft had its first annual Wellness Festival in July 2013.
Sister city
The town's Japanese sister city is Bifuka, Hokkaido.
Television and film
Projects that have been filmed in the area include