History and evolution of Lower Cribden Avenue
We want to use this page for information about how Lower Cribden Avenue was created. Many of you will have memories from before the houses were built, as well as the trials and tribulations of actually building the houses.
Lower Cribden Avenue
No. 19 and all that….
Well .. here's a few snaps of the now departed Lester's No19 LCA during 1987 - one day on a windswept hillside.
Martyn sets about marking out foundations. Phil no help at all.
Kathryn studying the geo-phys
Walls going slowly and painfully up without the interference of builders
Roof going on (Jeremy and Jean's (Dooley's actually) making more progress!)
Martyn making some progress in the garden.
19 Lower Cribden took 13 months to build and has been the happy home of the Lester's for .. well ever since.
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Lower Cribden Avenue
No. 14 and all that….
Kevin Parker was the first to contribute to this page:
NOTE: Some of the following is hearsay and anecdotal and the odd ‘fact’ may be open to improvement – if anybody knows better please update it.
The residents
No.14 is built on a double plot originally intended, we understand, for James & Judith Howarth of Lambert Howarth fame. They were water-skiers with a speed boat in the Lakes and we think the 4-car garage was originally intended to provide space for the boat as well as a couple of cars. James and Judith had lived in Greenbank Park and then on Newchurch Road but then decided not to move onto Lower Cribden – possibly moved away from Rossendale to the Isle of Man instead.
The Mitregas then bought No.14 as its first residents in September 1987 – they were Collette and Andrew, and the house was named The Collyand. The story was that they also had a property in London’s Docklands and decided to sell No. 14 and move there.
They sold to the Hutchinsons, in about 1990. We think Mr Hutchinson held a senior position with ICI or a similar large company and after a relatively short time his company moved him – probably early 1992 – though his wife continued to live there for a while after he moved job.
Because Mr Hutchinson’s company moved him a Relocation Service took possession of the house to sell it on his behalf and it was from them that Kevin and Linda Parker bought the house in May 1993 after it had been empty for about a year. And the Parkers then became the longest residents, selling to the Duttons and moving in February 2003 to relocate to Salford Quays and Norfolk.
…. And a few odds and ends…..
When the Parkers bought No. 14 in 1993 the local authority documents had it recorded as No.12 – nobody seemed to have noticed… This was corrected before completion.
Also in 1993 Lower Cribden Avenue was unadopted because Hurstwoods hadn’t sorted themselves out.
No. 14 has quite a complicated electrical installation and old Mr Ashworth promised Kevin Parker that he would dig out the original wiring diagrams and let him have them – when Kevin got round to chasing them up young Mr Ashworth declined to supply them – a strange and unhelpful response.
Although only a few years old the Parkers unexpectedly inherited woodworm treatment certificates for No. 14. It transpires that the wooden beams in some of the rooms are genuinely very old and needed to be treated when they were installed.
A good house for a party. Whilst there the Parkers celebrated a number of big events including one party that involved in excess of 80 guests – and even then the house didn’t feel crowded. Though in retrospect perhaps there shouldn’t have been quite so many on the balcony at any one time!
In the late 1990’s Nick Poullis, a then up-and-coming young artist, who is now sufficiently well known to have significant exhibitions in London, came to stay with his girlfriend, Gemma, one of the Parker’s God-daughters. While Kevin took Gemma flying, Nick agreed to paint the view from No.14’s balcony – on two pictures designed to fit either side of the wall light by the big window in the lounge. It was a grey day, but Nick said he had to paint it as he saw it – he wouldn’t add in a bit of sunshine and brightness. And he didn’t. But he didn’t like the dual carriageway so he painted that out – guess that’s artistic temperament. But the paintings are a great reminder of the fantastic views.
No. 14 likes Jaguars (cars) and has formed an intimate relationship with 2 definitely, and probably 3 if the stories are right….
- Christmas Day 1997 was wet and very windy – a good day to be inside celebrating. And the Parkers were – enjoying a late lunch with several friends and relatives, one of whom had arrived in style in a friend’s old (Morse) style Daimler Jaguar. Because the drive on No.14 can be challenging and there were several cars already on it she had parked on the relatively level bit at the very top of the drive. Unfortunately the car decided to not stop there and made its way down the drive – cleverly avoiding the other cars (only one of which gained a slight mark on the bumper) and tried to make friends with the big window overlooking the drive. Christmas lunch was interrupted by an almighty crash and sound of breaking glass as the car came through the window. The local police were very helpful and within an hour a repair company had arrived, temporarily boarded up the window and cleaned up the mess. That was one of the few windows not already replaced by the Parkers – with hindsight a worthwhile improvement!
- Jeremy’s Jaguar had obviously been eying up No.14 and one evening in July 2003 It decided to go and make friends. It crossed Lower Cribden fast enough to mount the kerb and set off down the East side of the house instead of diverting to use the drive. But then it couldn’t stop and after making intimate contact bounced on down through the garden and beyond causing some surprise and not a little consternation to those who saw it. Major recovery actions had to be instigated and as you would expect in Lower Cribden it all became a bit-of-a-do – an excuse to start a party compared with the Parkers’ Christmas incident that definitely stopped the party!
And there is a rumour that before the Parkers moved in another Jaguar demolished the window overlooking the drive. The Hutchinsons had a Jaguar and it may have been that one. The drive is steep and during the winter needs some care. The story goes that the jaguar driver judged the drive to be OK to manoeuvre down, but it wasn’t. And when he / she came to steer into the garage the car didn’t……it went straight on – and that was the first time that big window was replaced.
So the moral – be very, very, very, very, …… careful on and around that drive.
Keven Parker. - Nov 2006
Click here for pictures of the last Jaguar visit.
Don’t forget to send me your contributions: jeanduerden@virginmedia.com