Now known as Laburnum Cottage

For early history of the plot & its development

No: 9 seen from garden of No:13 during the pre-WW1 period

Owners
• Richard Wyatt and family had only a brief stay and then George Roberts acquired no:9 in 1861 with a mortgage from Thomas Kerfoot. Roberts - a draper - resided there for the 1871 census but then moved to the newly built Spring Villa (no:29).
• For the next 100 years (nearly) the dwelling stayed 'in the family'.
• From indentures; William Wannop -railway cashier- aged 34 - bought the property with its 1074 sq yd land on 25 Mar 1873 for £360 - from Thomas Kerfoot (£250) and George Roberts (£110).

  Mr Wannop in his garden probably just pre-WW1.
  

  On 14 Sept 1878 William Wannop took out a mortgage (North Wales Permanent Investment Benefit Building Society) to extend the property. The 1881 census records the Wannop family sharing the dwelling with another railway family. By the 1891 census the occupants are a different railway family and in the 1901 electoral roll Wannop is named as an absent landlord living in Stockport.
  By 1911 Wannop is shown as again living at no:9 where he died on 30 January 1915 aged 76 yrs.

• His daughter Mrs Ann Eliza Trant then inherited the property and lived there with husband Sea Captain Alfred Trant.
  The earliest Park accounts show Laburnum Villa as 1074 sq yds. In 1927 the accounts then show the Trants as acquiring land of 1412 sq yds - believed to be from Dicksons - plot 10 the as yet undeveloped plot opposite which was later the site of Treehaven no:44.
• From 1934 Captain Trant's name leaves the ledger and Mrs Ann Eliza Trant is named until 1946. The Trant daughters Mary Vincent Trant & Margaret Patricia then inherited Laburnum Cottage and initially lived there using the coachhouse/stables at the rear to house a weaving loom. J C Parkers converted the coachhouse/stables into accommodation for the Trant sisters who were then able to rent out the main house.
• Around 1970 presumably following the death of the last Trant sister; it was briefly in the hands of Bollands Court Nominees Ltd. On 8 Apr 1971 they sold to the sitting tenants - Anthony David Ward (bus driver)and his wife Annick Clare Helena Ward - for £3,500.
• On 2 May 1974 they sold to James Parker and son Limited of 1 West Street Hoole for £10,750. By this time the land was reduced to 378 sq yds after seperating off Loft Cottage (no:11).

• Parkers rented the house which had now not only lost its stable/coachhouse incorporated into no:11; but also the back part of the house was not in use reducing no:9 to a 2.5 up / 2.5 down. Mrs Fletcher was a tenant during this time.
• Gareth and Hilary Williams and family then bought the property and brought the back portion back into use as a kitchen. Hilary was vice-chairman of UPPA in the late 1980s and Gareth chairman in the mid-1990s.

• Pat & Janet Walsh and family acquired the property and moved in on 7 Mar 1995. Pat carried out some good Victorian architectural restoration. The end two chimney stacks had been taken down below roof level and canteen style tubular steel flues installed. Pat had the stacks rebuilt and pots instated of the common Upton Park style - yellow square - see Park architecture. Reinstatement of classic Victorian fires was completed with two cast iron fireplaces.

• Simon & Annette Lilley with son James and baby daughter Grace; acquired the property in January 2001; returning from several years living in Germany.