A STREET has been named in honour of its builder, who died of cancer.

About 150 friends and relatives of Rob Kirkbride gathered in his home town of Hawes, North Yorkshire, for the unveiling of the signs at Kirkbride’s Way.

Mr Kirkbride, 46, who died in August last year after a two-year battle with leukaemia, spent the past five years building six houses in Clarkson’s Wynd, Hawes.

Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council applied to Richmondshire District Council to have the wynd renamed Kirkbride’s Way. Mr Kirkbride’s widow, Sarah, said: “It is absolutely wonderful, and very emotional.

“Rob would never have done anything like this in his lifetime as he was much too modest, but I think it is a very fitting tribute.”

Born in Bainbridge to a farming family, Mr Kirkbride worked for Weatheralds, of Askrigg, and later TG Routh, of Hawes, before he branched out on his own.

In 2006, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and died on August 11 in hospital, leaving his widow Sarah and their three children – Imogen, Lochlan and Esme.

County and district councillor John Blackie, the chairman of Hawes and High Abbotside Parish Council, said: “Rob was a first-rate builder, and there are many examples of his excellent workmanship in and around Hawes.

“He was also a fighter supreme, and his courage, bravery and sheer determination was an inspiration to everybody.”

The Reverend Bill Simms, who led a short ceremony at the unveiling of the signs, said: “In naming this road Kirkbride’s Way, we justly recognise and honour a great man, and a true man of this Dale.”