Making a splash Rural river crossing forced to close after TikTok helps flood it with spectators

Deep in the English countryside is an ancient river crossing that has been used, in various forms, for at least 1,000 years.

- Jim Waterson

It featured in the Domesday Book, attracted Cistercian monks who built an abbey nearby, and more recently served as a handy shortcut for Nottinghamshire commuters. But Rufford ford has now been closed, after video clips of cars driving through it attracted hundreds of millions of views online on TikTok.

“That ford has been there since Adam was a lad,” said Neil Clarke, a local county councilor. He decided to close the crossing last month after requests from the fire and police services, who were unable to cope with a small rural lane becoming one of the most famous roads in the world.

“With the age of social media it has become a tourist attraction. People are driving there specifically to have a go at going through the ford. They don’t realise how deep it is and suddenly their car starts floating,” Clarke said.

Rufford ford cuts across Rainworth Water , a small river east of Mansfield. When the weather is dry, the river crosses the road as a small trickle that is easily traversed. But after heavy rain it becomes several feet deep and up to 30ft (9 metres) wide, and the crossing resembles a log flume at a theme park. Over-optimistic drivers often have a moment of realisation as their cars come to a halt . As their engines are flooded , they are left begging onlookers to tow them out.

For years, this was just a local concern. Then in 2020, a local teenager called Ben Gregory started uploading videos he had filmed to YouTube of cars conking out in the water. Suddenly, a small Nottinghamshire lane became a global online and tourist attraction with an obsessive fanbase. “People love seeing pain and failure,” said another YouTuber, who insisted on being referred to by his online username, midlifecrisis101x.