World's first Western was shot in the countryside of Lancashire, new research has suggested.

Kidnapping By Indians was filmed in 1899, four years before The Great Train Robbery, which until now was widely seen as the genre's first film. Mr Holman said the information, which showed a filming location close to Blackburn, was "hiding in plain sight".

The one-minute movie is now due to be shown in a public screening in the town, which was once home to the pioneering film makers Mitchell and Kenyon.

The film - which is owned by a private collector - will be shown on Saturday alongside a Wild West-themed parade.

It follows the plot of a young girl being kidnapped by native Americans before being rescued in a gunfight.

Shot in fields close to Blackburn, the producers used local actors, including some made up as native Americans in a way that might seem unpalatable in the 21st Century but would have been regarded differently at the time. Read further info here