A VIEWING point commemorating a Blackburn landmark has been erected on its former site.

Revidge Road Water Tank, or simply ‘The Tank’, was visited by people hoping to enjoy an unparalleled view of the town and across Lancashire for more than a century.

The iron water reservoir stood at the top of Corporation Park for 103 years, but fell into a derelict state and was demolished in 2000.

However, thanks to the work of Groundwork Pennine Lancashire, a new £3,000 toposcope has been placed in its footprint.

A toposcope is a monument which indicates the direction, and usually the distance, to notable landscape features that can be seen with the naked eye.

Nick Riley, director of Groundwork contract services at Groundwork Pennine Lancashire, designed a cast metal plaque with wording and distances supplied by John Ryden, a former council planning, projects and regeneration officer, and historical evidence courtesy of Barbara Riding, chairman of Blackburn Local History Society.

He said: “It’s like a way-marker, cast in metal and stone with a stone plinth so when you are standing there you can see exactly how far it is to Blackpool or Pendle Hill around 360 degrees.

“When this was demolished it was a great loss to local folk who had fond memories of the days they took their children to the ‘top of the world’ to view the county and beyond.”

The landmark is also a tribute to Thomas Frost, who lived in Samlesbury and whose family business, Ashton Frost and Co, supplied and built the tank in 1897.

His granddaughter Rosemary Nonkin, 67, who now lives near Balmoral, in Scotland, made the trip down to see the memorial installed.

She said: “It’s just super. My grandfather built most of the cotton mills in Blackburn.

"He was such a loved guy. He did so much for Blackburn.

"He was an architect of so much in the Victorian years.”