THIS is a rare photograph of one of the great ‘lost’ homes of East Lancashire.

Billinge Scar was built by Daniel Thwaites in 1876 when he was MP for Blackburn passing into his daughter’s hands following his death in 1880.

The property boasted 12 bedrooms, a library and even a school room.

Cotton magnate William Birtwistle would later buy the hall and his son, Brigadier General Arthur Birtwistle, would move in in 1921. Whilst there he built what was said to be the largest private greenhouse in Lancashire.

The Brigadier General died in 1937 and the property went up for sale but attracted no offers. During the war it was used as a training centre for telephonists and was demolished in 1947.