The grandly-named Park Avenue was developed on the higher ground above the railway, south-west of the park. A line of substantially larger houses, initially double-height-bay terraced homes then grand semi-detached, rose over the hill, facing the park.

More impressive than the smaller terraced houses on the other side of the railway they might have been, but that would have counted for nothing on the night of Friday 9th/Saturday 10th May 1941. That was when the Luftwaffe made another raid on Barrow with the railway and electricity station behind Park Avenue again among their targets. The previous weekend, the impressive Central Station was destroyed but valiant efforts had reinstated through tracks within twenty-nine hours. 

Three high explosive bombs fell and one hit the tracks some fifty yards south of the damaged station. The other two missed the railway, one hitting the park on the Abbey Road side, not far from the bottom of Park Avenue.The other bomb hit number 18 Park Avenue. There appears to be no records of deaths as a result, but clearly the house suffered significant damage and neighbouring houses did not escape unscathed. Numbers sixteen and eighteen were put on a council list of properties graded ‘so seriously damaged as to require demolition’.

The following morning, accompanied by his mother, ‘JH’ – quoted in Barrow Blitz by Bryn Trescathric – describes visiting his aunt in her Park Avenue home. Evading a police cordon to get to the house, they found her in the soot and plaster-filled house, polishing the fireplace. Since the gas still worked, JH’s mother made everyone the inevitable cup of tea to revive spirits.