MORE has come to light this week on the history of the Herefordshire estate where Prince William and wife-to-be Kate Middleton could settle.

The Duchy of Cornwall-owned Harewood Park estate between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye has long been touted as a possible home for the future king.

His father, Prince Charles, has overseen plans for the ecofriendly mansion at Harewood End which received the go-ahead back in 2004.

But as this picture shows the estate’s former main residence, now demolished, was also an impressive building.

The photo, handed to us by Rita Crum from Fownhope, shows the scene in the late 19th century where a large hunting party posed in front of the threestorey home.

Mrs Crum says her late husband, Ivor, worked on the land as a forestry foreman for 45 years before retiring in the early 1990s. She says the rumour that royalty would move onto the estate in the future was often talked about during his time there.

The pictured manor house, which is believed to have dated back to 1215, had fallen into a state of disrepair and was used as a training base by the Ministry of Defence before it was demolished in 1959.