Making your house stand out in De Vigier Avenue

Image: © Colin Bell Taken: 30 Mar 2008

Someone's decided to brighten up this rather drab road on the edge of Saffron Walden. David Hallam-Jones provided the following historical context to the name of the road. It is named after Swiss-born William de Vigier, who came to London in 1935 who invented the "Acrow prop". Apparently at first the old-fashioned builders preferred the established timber props, cut to fit for each job. However, the break for Vigier's adjustable props came when they were adopted by a few large builders, including McAlpines. By 1939, over 40,000 Acrow props were in use. Vigier’s company was named the Acrow Group, after his solicitor (Mr) A Crowe. Vigour adopted this name for his props as, like Kodak, it was an easily pronounceable neologism, with the additional advantage of appearing early in alphabetical lists. The nearby Ashdon Road Commercial Centre was formerly home to an Acrow factory.

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