Ashcroft was named after the nearby Ashcroft Manor on Ashcroft Ranch founded in the 1860s, during the Cariboo Gold Rush, by two English brothers named Clement Francis Cornwall and Henry Pennant Cornwall, 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. The Cariboo Road ran nearby but on the west bank of the Thompson River. Ashcroft was a major stop for trains, where mining supplies were dropped off. The Canadian Pacific Railway reached Ashcroft in 1884 and the town became a division point and service centre for the rail line. The province built a bridge across the river in 1890 so travellers could ride the train to Ashcroft then board a stagecoach for a journey north. In 1920, when the Pacific Great Eastern Railway was partially built, running from Squamish to Clinton and Williams Lake, Ashcroft lost strategic importance as a supply centre and transit point for the north. After this, the townsfolk started to rely on farming to sustain the community. Despite being dry, farming was very successful because of water from the Thompson River and hot sun. During the 1920s the small but successful Chinese community made money by testing the growing of potatoes and tomatoes. A tomato cannery was built in the village, which later closed in 1957. In 2001, Ashcroft expanded its boundaries to include the Ashcroft Ranch, which had been bought in 2000 by the Greater Vancouver Regional District 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, due to the near desert conditions in lower elevation areas and has been marketed as sets for the film industry. A number of old west films and movies depicting the middle east have used this area as a stand in.
Ashcroft town is not on the Fraser Canyon Highway, rather it sits on the east bank of the river below the bench. The highway runs from Spences Bridge to Cache Creek, and there is a turnoff at the Ashcroft Ranch for a separate road that goes into town. 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, CH4472 on VHF channel 4, with a repeater 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 Japanese town of Bifuka, in Hokkaido, was twinned with Ashcroft in 1994. Tourism between Ashcroft and Bifuka residents is common.
Television and film
Projects that have been filmed in the area include
