THIS image from the picture archives of the Lancashire Telegraph shows a royal visit to Witton House in Witton Park, Blackburn.

It is that of the Prince and Princess of Wales, later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, in 1888, on their visit to Blackburn to lay the foundation of the town's technical school, now part of Blackburn College.

Then Witton Park formed the grounds of now-vanished Witton House, the home of the Lord of the Manor of Blackburn, Lieutenant General Feilden.

The royal couple stayed there for an hour after arriving earlier at Cherry Tree station where the platform had been specially raised so that, they 'in no way experienced the unpleasant sensation on alighting of dropping down several feet'.

They are seen in the picture in their carriage outside Witton House and had took away with them a pair of clogs on an ebony stand - a gift from the children at Witton School.

Built in 1800, Witton House was the home of the Feildens, a major landowning and political family whose associations with Blackburn reach back to the 16th century.

Replacing the earlier, much-older ancestral home which stood beside the Blakewater in Witton Park, this building was demolished in 1954 on falling victim to dry rot and decay after it and the surrounding 400-acre estate had been bought by the town council in 1947.