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Witton Country Park History Trail Follow the stones to discover the hidden history of the park! Witton House TRAIL LASTS ABOUT 45 MINS Suitable for explorers young and old alike. Some ups and downs along the way but not steps or stiles Countryside Services 1. Start at the Pavilion and walk up to the Old Stables First from the Pavilion looking at the Athletic Track in front of you, follow the footpath to the right where it meets the main drive. Turn right and follow up past the Wits Play area. Then into the cobbled courtyard where the Old Stables are situated to begin the trail. 2. With your back to the giant bluebell walk up between the animal pens At the top of the steps, leading into the wood, you can see the Ice House. Before there was electricity, this was an early deep freeze. This underground food store, for Witton House, was filled with ice. 3. Standing in the car park. Facing the ice house do not go up the steps but go to your right, then left of the metal railings, to find the cobbled road that leads up to the field gate Stone One. Here is your first of six stones, with oak leaves and acorns on it. The Feildens planted hundreds of trees on their estate creating many woods; the largest is on Billinge Hill at the top of the park. 4. Turn left at the stone and follow the path up into the wood, then turn right uphill to find the ruined conservatory The wood on your left used to be an orchard and all of this area was a woodland garden. The apple trees are long gone, but have been replaced with other beautiful trees. There are two Redwood trees here (planted in 1980), which are already quite tall. The biggest and oldest trees in the park today are Beech trees, some over three hundred years old. 5. Walk through the old ruin then turn right down to the metal kissing gate The original ‘kissing gate’ would have been made out of wood. The ‘kiss’ was the noise the gate made when being opened and closed. Look over the gate up in to the park, with Billinge Hill in the far distance. All of this land was part of the Feilden estate (485 acres) and today is Witton Country Park, owned by the local council. Across the field you can see an unusual field boundary, which originally was a wall built in the bottom of a ditch; it is called a Ha Ha. 6. To the right of the kissing gate find the second stone Stone Two. On the stone are pictures of a pineapple and orchids, both grown on the estate in Victorian times. Orchids were grown in the conservatory and pineapples in special greenhouses in the walled garden. Pineapples are a common fruit today, available in any supermarket, but in Victorian times they were a luxury, only eaten by the very rich. 7. Continue down the gravel path to find a flat clearing and the third stone on your right Stone Three. The carving shows cotton seeds and cloth, which made the Feilden family and Blackburn famous. This is where Henry Feilden built his house in 1800. For many years the family had been cotton merchants and had been lords of the manor of Witton. Witton was originally part of the Norman manor of Billington. By 1800 the Feildens were the largest landowners in the area and the wealthiest. By 1880 the family owned over 2,000 acres of land across the borough of Blackburn. During the first part of the 20th century the house was often empty and began to suffer from dry rot. The house and estate were sold to Blackburn Corporation in 1946 and in 1953 the decision was made to demolish the house. By then the Feilden family had moved down to Oxfordshire and their private estate began to be used by the general public. In 1973 the area was designated a country park and footpaths which had been overgrown for years were cleared. 8. Take the path to your right past the eight stone steps, then left following the tramper trail On your right, is a stone pillar (part of the house), from here look left up the stone steps. Look at the picture of the house on the front cover of this guide; that is what you would have seen, in Victorian times, from this point. 9. Continue along, then right downhill following the tramper trail, keeping the wooden fence on your left. Keep going until the cycleway to find the fourth stone Stone Four. This stone has many different birds on it showing how the country park is full of wildlife. In Victorian times gamekeepers would shoot crows and magpies, considering them to be vermin. The Feilden family and their wealthy friends would also shoot pheasants and ducks for sport. 10. Facing Snowy (the crow) turn right back to The Wits play area, along the cycleway To your right across the field is the River Darwen. When Blackburn was full of mills, over a hundred years ago, this river was very polluted. However, today the river is clean and full of life. At the main car park the river is joined by another river (we call this a confluence), the river Blakewater. The Blakewater flows through the middle of Blackburn (much of it underground) and probably gave the town its name. 11. Go through The Wits to the road junction, then across following the road behind the wooden pavilion. At the pavilion turn left up to the lily pond. Turn right to go round the pond to find the fifth stone Stone Five. On the stone there are lily flowers and ice crystals. The lily pond was part of the Feilden’s beautiful garden, built in the early 1800s. Winters were much colder in those days and the pond would often be frozen over. Ice from here would be used in the Ice House. 12. Continue round the pond, then right down the Yew avenue, with the brick wall on your right Behind this wall was the Victorian kitchen garden, where all the vegetables, fruit and flowers were grown for Witton House. 13. Go through the iron gates (with red Lancashire roses on them) to find the sixth and final stone Stone Six. The shuttle, bobbins and scissors tell the story of cotton, which made Blackburn famous. The first local mills were built in 1778 at Wensley Fold (a few minutes walk away from here) on the banks of the River Blakewater. These early spinning mills were water powered, but soon became steam driven. This produced enormous quantities of yarn, which was still made into cloth by handloom weavers in their own homes. In 1800 there were 20,000 handlooms in the Blackburn area. The invention of the power loom transformed the industry and weaving mills began to dominate the town. Men, women and even small children all worked in the mills. The weaving mills needed thousands of wooden shuttles and these were also made in the town. Now your journey is complete turn left and head back to the Pavilion! To find out more information about the history of the park. Visit www.cottontown.org or for further reading: • ‘The Feildens of Witton Park’ by R D S Wilson • ‘Blackburn a History’ by Derek Beattie For more information about Parks & Countryside within Blackburn with Darwen Visit www.blackburn.gov.uk Email: [email protected] Tel: 01254 55423.

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