A 200-year-old pound note that could not be spent outside Lancashire has been sold for £900 at auction.

The Bank of Blackburn note was printed by local bank Cunliffes, Brooks & Co, at a time in the late 1700s and 1800s when towns across England were allowed to print their own money.

It was expected to fetch £600 at London auctioneers Spink. But this week it went for £300 more when it was bought by a mystery collector.

Back in the 1800s, convoys of cash were prone to plundering by highwaymen or could take days to arrive so it was quicker and safer to set up money printing presses locally.

The bank which produced the valuable black and white provincial banknote was owned by John Cunliffe and opened in 1792 on Old Bank Street, relocating to the corner of Church Street and Darwen Street, Blackburn, in 1878.

Nick Harling, keeper of social history at Blackburn Museum, said: "The unusual thing is that the note has Blackburn Bank on it when, in fact, there was another bank going by that name so perhaps it means a bank in Blackburn."

The note is a proof and was never actually in circulation, which accounts for it being "very rare" and in "extremely fine condition", according to the auctioneers.

Barnaby Faull, director of the firm's banknotes department, said: "All towns and cities used to issue their own banknotes. When many of these local banks went bust, their notes became completely worthless."

Cunliffes, Brooks & Co flourished until 1900 when it was taken over by Lloyds Bank. In 1921 the Bank of England gained a monopoly on producing money and the private presses closed.