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| Merry Christmas Blacklands! (View of Blacklands from St Mary's Terrace 24th December 2025) |
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| No. 5 Hughenden Road used to be No. 3 before buildings were erected on the opposite side of the road. |
Originally, houses were only built on the north side of Hughenden Road, so they were numbered 1,2,3 on the same side. But, when houses were later built on the opposite side, they were renumbered odd numbers on the north side and even numbers on the south side. And what was once number 3 Hughenden Road is now No. 5, next door to Hughenden Garage.
Back in 1882, when Hughenden Road was still only developed on the north side, the private building of no. 3 Hughenden Road (now no. 5) was used by local men as a social club.
From the moment Alfred Hodges [coming later to Blacklands & Beyond)] took over the local church in Laton Road in 1878, before he even became the official vicar, he demonstrated to the parishioners what a caring, considerate man he was. He worked tirelessly (and without pay for many years) to connect to all the people in the area he cared for.
To start with, when there were only a few households, Hodges visited them every day. Later, he made every effort to continue regular visits. He got to know the people in the area very well, and cared about their well-being. An advocate for all levels of society, no matter whether a poorer tradesman or a person of substance, he got to know and understand every local man and family, and one of his concerns became the problems and issues of alcohol and its use by his parishioners, in particular the role of the many local public houses.
Hodges decided his parishioners needed an alternative to alcohol and an alternative to public houses.
Soon after No 3 (now 5) Hughenden Road was subscribed for, then opened in the winter of 1881-82. Later, in November 1882, Hodges established The Christ Church (Blacklands) Working Men's Institute as that alternative. The Institute gave men space where they could meet up, play games, read newspapers and socialise when they returned from work, from six o'clock to ten o'clock every evening.
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| No. 5 Hughenden Road The original Parochial Rooms |
Originally, there were forty-six men paying the one penny subscription per week. They were also obliged to attend Sunday service as part of the cost of using the club. In 1883, one of the members of the Working Men's Institute, George Austin, became the builder of the new school building beside the church. Back then, he had his workshops behind the Institute, and prefabricated much of the new school building in them.
Later, In 1893, Hodges founded a parochial club for boys and young men, called the Junior Institute, or Lad's Club. The club was open to boys of age fourteen to twenty-one years, one of the first 'youth clubs'. Like the Men's Intitute, the rooms were open every evening for the youths to read and play games. Their payment was a small subscription fee and two Bible classes a week.
Hodges wanted to expand the busy parochial clubs already in use to also having a permanent site for a Sunday School for the boys, but there wasn't enough room in the small private building. This was discussed at the Easter Vestry in 1894, after which the sum of £225 was offered toward a plot in Hughenden Road. However, the cost of building had been estimated as £1500. They had, by then, the donations, or promise of donations, of £700. They decided that a mortgage of the other £800 at 4% a year would cost them no more than the £25 they then paid for the current Parochial Rooms in rent.
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| 28B Hughenden Road, Church House, built 1896 |
The land was purchased from a Dr Goodwin in 1895. Then came a long legal battle before they could start building the new property, they planned to call Church House. It cost £172 in legal fees to relocate an ancient footpath which passed through the site.
Later that year, the foundation stone was laid by Reverend Hodges wife, Lucy, on 25th September 1895. The sun was shining and all of Hughenden Road was decorated with flags in celebation. The street was filled with residents coming out to cheer on 'Mrs Lucy', who they adored. The building of the Boys Schoolroom and Club Rooms had begun.
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| Church House, The Parochial Rooms of Blacklands home of the Boys Sunday School and the Mens Club |
A Mr W. E. Warman's tender for the Hall was accepted, and the first Trustees were: the Vicar (Hodges), Wardens, Mr. Dobell and Mr. Forrest.
The deeds stated that the
'Church House was to be used in perpetuity for Church of England purposes in connection with the Church and Parish of Christ Church, Blacklands'.
So, knowing that it is now residential, at some point a change-of-use must have occurred.
On 24th March 1896, Church House was dedicated by Dr Ernest Wilberforce, the recently consecrated Bishop of Chichester and friend of Reverend Alfred Hodges.
When Church House opened, membership was initially limited to men over the age of 18yrs and who lived in the Parish or who attended the Blacklands Church in Laton Road. There were similar rules to the old parochial rooms, in that there should be no alcohol nor gambling (or any games for money). Thirty-four men became members on opening night. Soon afterwards, there were seventy members, each paying a subscription and attending a Sunday afternoon Bible Class, which the members were obliged to go to.
The front no longer says "Christ Church Blacklands Church House", but now simply says "Blacklands" - it was one of the first things that interested me in the Blacklands area.
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| 28 Hughenden Road now called "Blacklands" |
***
P.S. I'm not sure what happened to the Lads Club at that point, if membership was only for over 18s, but in 1908, the Lads Club, or Lads Brigade, as it was then known, moved to Sutton Memorial Hall.
Christ Church, Blacklands (The Centenary History of a Late Victorian Church); Ralph, Richard; Hastings 1981
History of the Church and Parish of Christ Chrch, Blacklands, Hastings 1878-1928; Morgan, Rev. James, D.D.; Budd A. Gillatt, St Leonards on Sea 1928
Blacklands History, 1066 Online
In the last few years, following the recognition of how important the species is for regulating the waterways and their benefit to land management, there has been an exciting come-back of beavers in the UK, mainly through efforts of conservationists (as well as some illegal releases). Not only are beavers of great benefit to us and the environment, more benefit comes from beavers having been pronounced a protected native species.
Why am I talking about beavers instead of Blacklands? Well, it's because we had our very own famous beaver conservationist born here in Blacklands: a man you may or may not have heard of. It's a man called Grey Owl. A man who first claimed fame in Canada, where he was a fur trapper and a guide, but later claimed worldwide fame through his books about the beaver and its importance in the wilderness.
Grey Owl did indeed become world-famous, but he is equally famous for the revelation after his death, that he wasn't actually who he had said he was. The man everyone knew as the native American 'half-breed' [a term he used to describe himself, not meant as derogatory], it turned out 'Grey Owl' was actually born Archibald Stansfield Belaney (18th September 1888) at 32 St James's Road, on the edge of the original Blacklands Estate, a house now marked with a plaque and a statue of an owl on the roof over the lower window. I love passing it and thinking of its history:
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| 32 St James Road, where Archie was born |
The mystery was why he took on the name he was known by. Partly, it was a means of escapism from his early childhood. He didn't have much of a role model in his parents...
Archibald's father, George Furmage Belaney, was the son of a wealthy widow of independent means, and had a reputation as a waster. As a young man, looking for a new life, his father had travelled to America and met the woman he wanted to marry. Unfortunately, she died young, so he married her younger sister, Kathleen Verona Vox, or Kitty, who was but a child, half his age and only 16 when she gave birth to her second son. Her first son, Archibald's brother, Hugh Cockburn Belaney, was born a year earlier in Deal, Kent.
Luckily, Archibald (or Archie, as he was called) had family keeping an eye out for him. When he was but an infant, he was whisked away from his drunken father and very young mother by his London-born Grandmother, Julianna, now widowed, and his two aunts, both born in Devon: Julia Ada Belaney (Aunt Ada) and Janey Carrie Belaney (Aunt Carrie). Between the three of them, they took him under their wings.But they didn't take him far. By the time of the 1891 census, when Archie was only two, he had already been removed by his grandmother and aunts to 52 St Helen's Road. For some reason, his twenty-nine-year-old Aunt Carrie - named Janet on the form - was mistakenly recorded as his mother. Meanwhile, his parents were actually back in Deal, Kent, with Archibald's three-and-a-half-year-old brother.
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| 2-yr-old Archie's home 52 St Helen's Road, Hastings |
Ten years later, in the 1901 census, Archie was recorded as being with his grandmother and aunts in Highbury Villa, St James's Road, a house overlooking the house where he was born (the house next to the twitten, or path (Braycastle Reach), between Quarry Road and St Mary's Road).
(According to some sources, he also spent some time 36 St Mary's Terrace, but I can't find out when.)
Brought up by these well-meaning relatives (while his father took off back to America) Archie was a bit of a loner who connected better with animals and nature, and had yearnings to live as a native American indian. A childhood friend later revealed he had often played at being one one.
Archie was good at writing and languages, but not so good at other school subjects, so he left school at 15 to work as a clerk in a lumberyard near St Helen's Wood (one of his favourite places to play growing up). After two years of this, the desire to follow his heart to North America was so great, he persuaded his family to allow him to go.
And so, like his father, he jumped on a boat and left England behind.
This was one of the turning points of his life.
But it wasn't to America he went. He took the ship, the SS Canada, from Portsmouth to Nova Scotia, where he learned how to be a good hunter, trapper and guide. His ability for languages also came in handy in learning to speak to the local native people, and he was quickly accepted by them.
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| Angele Egwuna (standing 2nd from left) and her family, Bear Island |
The chief called Archie 'Little Owl' because of the way he would sit quietly, and watch, and listen. Perhaps because of his closeness to the Chief's family, he fell for the Chief's daughter, Angele Egwuna, and married her in 1910. She became mother to two of his four children: Agnes (1911) and Flora (1926).
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| Angele Egwuna 1913 (married Grey Owl 1910) |
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| Archibald Belaney,13th Montreal Battalion, Canadian Army (1915) |
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| Canadian Hospital, Frederick Road, Hastings |
The 1917 marriage certificate gives the following particulars:— " Bridegroom — Archibald Stansfield Belaney, full age, bachelor, soldier, of Hollington. Father—George Belaney. deceased, architect." "Bride—Florence Ivy Mary Holmes, full age, spinster, of Hollington Father—Robert John Holmes, deceased, doctor."
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| Archie's Second Wife, Ivy Holmes |
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| Archie injured in WW1 |
It appears Archie had returned to his first wife, Angele, once more. For a while, at least. But not for long. He, again, got itchy feet. And, again, off he went hunting and trapping, leaving his wife with their second child. Basically, until this point, he had had at least three partners, deserted three children, and had a reputation for being 'in the thick of a brawl'. Like his father, his heavy drinking often got him into trouble.
But this changed when he met his next wife, Gertrude Bernard (20), who he called Anahareo (and who wrote books under that name). Their relationship was blessed in a ceremony conducted by Chief Nias Papate at Lac Simon in 1926, and they remained together as companions for ten years.
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| Anahareo (aka Gertrude Bernard) |
In the same way as the gold rush had drawn so many to make their fortune further south, the fur trade in the north drew many a man to make his fortune from slaying animals for their skins. Archie, or Grey Owl, was so enamoured by Anahareo that, rather than leaving her behind as he would normally do, he took her on the next hunting trip with him.
On this particular trip, Archie had good hunting, as he normally did, but he became very aware of the depletion of animals. The populations of some animals had almost disappeared in places. This affected him, but what affected him more was something that changed the rest of his life. It was a day when he had killed a particular beaver for its fur...
As he and Anahareo were leaving in the canoe after he had killed the beaver, they heard the crying of beaver kittens. Archie's first thought was to 'put them out of their misery', so they didn't have the slow death of starvation without their mother, but his wife persuaded him to take the babies home with them. The adoption of those two little beaver kittens was what changed his whole way of thinking about wildlife. That and how Anahareo talked Archie into writing about the wilderness for articles and books.
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| Anahareo (Gertrude Bernard) on, the left and Archie, by their cabin |
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| Flyer for Grey Owl at White Rock, Hastings |
There are many old black and white videos of Grey Owl, some of which can be found on YouTube, showing him at his home by the lake with the beavers (see a list of 'Some Grey Owl Videos' below) He became well known as a speaker, an advocate for the beavers and other wild creatures, so much so that there would often be long queues to hear him, and many would be disappointed because there was no room for them to get in. He had caught the world's attention.
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| Grey Owl outside his cabin by the lake |
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| Anahereo and Grey Owl stopping to eat |
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| Yvonne Perrier, Grey Owl's third wife, [taken from a rare, fuzzy picture of Grey Owl with Yvonne] |
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| Grey Owl signs off |
*Archie Belaney's life is play by Pierce Brosnon in Richard Attenburghs film "Grey Owl" (1999)*A plaque has been erected in Hastings Country Park.*A twitten next to the road where he was born (Going across the top of St James' Road, from Quarry Road to Saint Mary's Road, called Grey Owls Reach.
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| Grey Owl Plaque in Hastings Country Park |
Grey Owl (Wikipedia)
Grey Owl, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Correspondence relating to the publication of Adventures of Sajo and her beaver people by Grey Owl (National Archives)
Grey Owl and his life in Temagami, Mackey, Doug
From the Land of the Shadows: the making of 'Grey Owl', Smith, Donald B.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Benaney, Archibald Stansfield; 2013–2024 University of Toronto/Université Laval
Bulletin No. 28,; The Grey Owl Society, Hastings; 2009 [Edited Betty Taylor]
Florence Ivy Mary Holmes: Early Life, Wikipedia
Divorce Court File: 4930. Appellant: Florence Ivy Mary Belaney otherwise Florence Ivy Mary Holmes. Respondent: Archibald Stansfield Belaney. Type: Wife's petition for/of nullity; [1921]; National Archives, Kew,
Archie McNeil's Will Prince Albert Daily Herald, By Fred Payton -July 28, 2022
The 1930s eco-warrior who inspired David Attenborough and The Queen, only to be unmasked as a hoaxer and 'pretendian' — but his message still rings true, Martin Fone, Country File, 3rd August 2024
(Portraits of Archibald Belaney)Canada: Saskatchewan - Grey Owl and the Beavers of Prince Albert National Park;by Anne Martin
The Story of Grey Owl - Saving the Beaver From Extinction by The Woodland Escape
Canadian Cameo, Grey Owl's Little Brother (1932) by Library and Archives Canada
Grey Owl`s srange quest 1936 documentary stromgull
The Trail: Men Against the Snow - Silent [Reconstructed] 1937 Canadianfilm
The Trail: Men Against the River - Silent [Reconstructed] 1937 Canadianfilm
Grey Owl's Neighbours 1933 Canadianfilm
Strange Doings in Beaverland 1932 Canadianfilm
The Path of Grey Owl (Destination Ontario)
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| Summary Family Tree of Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney) |
52 St Helen's Road
Juliana Belaney widow 53 b London Putney
Julia C Belaney (daughter) 31 b Devon Crossmead
Janey A Belaney (daughter) 29 b Devon Crossmead
Archibald S Belaney (Grandson) 2 b Sussex Hastings
Highbury Villa, St James Road
Juliana Belaney widow 75, Living own means, b London Putney
Julia C Belaney (daughter), Living own means, 38 b Devonshire
Janey A Belaney (daughter), Living own means, 36 b Devonshire
Archibald S Belaney (Grandson) 12 b Sussex Hastings
[Around 1900, Florence became friends with the aunts of her future husband, Archibald Belaney, in Hastings, due to a shared interest in purebred Collie dogs.[4] (Belaney was raised by his two aunts and grandmother, his father and mother having been deemed unfit for parenthood by the family.[1]: 12 ) Florence and Ivy began visiting the Belaney family during school holidays at their home, Highbury Villa on St. James' Road. "Archie liked Ivy and tried to impress her. Thinking she would be interested, he showed her how he fed frogs to his snakes."[1]: 22 She recalled playing at being Indians with Archie: "I was his squaw 'Dancing Moonbeam', he was 'Big Chief Thunderbinder'".[5]
Belaney would stay with the Holmes family at their home in Hammersmith while exploring the city. He and his aunt Ada also stayed with them on the way to Liverpool, where, on 29 March 1906, he boarded the SS Canada for Halifax, Nova Scotia. That was the last Ivy saw of him till after the war.[1]:
Date:1922
Divorce Court File: 4930. Appellant: Florence Ivy Mary Belaney otherwise Florence Ivy Mary Holmes. Respondent: Archibald Stansfield Belaney. Type: Wife's petition for/of nullity [wn].
Jane Elizabeth Strickland (1851–1932) by guest author Helena Wojtczak Two Women. One Century. A Defiant Legacy. To know Jane Elizabeth Stri...