Updated Blacklands Boundary, as 0f 1938

Last year, after I researched the Blacklands boundary and put up my findings in the first post We Are Blacklanders, I had a message from a reader (thanks Alison!) alerting me to more recent changes.

So, in May, 2025, I wrote to Reverend Murrills of Christ Church in Laton Road, who kindly shared the latest Blacklands boundary map, which also "includes what was the parish previously served by St Andrew’s church, which used to stand where the Morrison’s petrol filling station is now."

This is it. This is the map she provided - the official current Blacklands map!

Map of Blacklands
kindly shared by Reverend Murrills
of Christ Church in Laton Road

From what I see here, comparing the old map and the new, there are a number of changes. Some areas gained, some areas lost. The most notable changes that I can see are these:

• The area around Morrisons is not on the old map at all, since Blacklands used to start (or end, if going into Hastings) at the bridge opposite Alexandra Park entrance.

Added now are the roads: Waterworks Road, The Yard, (Morrisons store), Brook Street, Mann Street, Waldergrave Street, St Andrew's Square, Cornwallis Street and the short stretch of South Terrace (1-10) between Mann Street and Queen's Road. The new bit also includes the west side (Morrison's side) of Queen's Road between the bridge and South Terrace, but on the east side only goes from  Stonefield Place , past  Nelson Road to the bridge. This added area also includes the west side of of Stonefield Road between Stonefield Place and the bridge. 

• Instead of running along St Helen's Road directly, the boundary now runs along the east side (the park side) of Lower Park Road, through Alexandra Park, then continues further along St Helen's Road than before, to a point level with half way between Park Crescent and Park Way, and then turns eastward right between the two roads to include Park Crescent in the new boundary.

The boundary line follows a northeast path alongside Park Crescent to the top and then on up to Hillside Road at the corner of park Avenue where it travels down Hillside Road to St Helen's Road and Kite's Nest... There's a few extra roads included here too. This is a cleaner boundary  than the original area I worked out from the parish church descriptions, because  it was originally uncertain whether roads like Birch Way and Baird Drive were included, but now they definitely are. More of Park View is also now included and is clearer where it goes from and to. Also now included in the new area are: the remainder of Ashford Road, Ashford Way, Beneden Rise, Canterbury Rise, Hardrada Rise, Park Drive,  Streamside Close , Tenterden Rise and The Gables.

• It looks like the boundary still runs down along the footpath from the corner of  Waterman's Close to Down's Road, but then, instead of crossing Down's Road into the next section of footpath across the road that continues onto Blacklands Drive, as it used to, the boundary goes northward up Down's Road until just above Henderson Close (but not including Hendersons Close or Conifer Close). So both sides of Down's Road between the entrance of Waterman's Close and near the little offshoot close within Watermans' Close are new,as is  Abbotsfield Close.
• From above Hendersons Close (just past the Bos Recreation Ground) the boundary cuts across below the houses on the upper end of Down's Road (around where the numbers jump from about 70 to 136), at the top of the allotments, to Elphinstone Road level with Hoad's Wood Road.
• Not including any side roads, the boundary then goes south down Elphinstone Road to level with just north of Elphinstone Avenue (not previously included) cutting straight across to Parker Road, opposite Fir Tree Road (not included), then down Parker Road. So there are new roads to include in Blacklands from this added area, including an extension of Elphinstone Road from Blacklands Drive up to Hoad's Wood Road, and all of Elphinstone Avenue, as well as higher up Parker Road than before.
• The Boundary then follows Parker Road down into Elphinstone Road and up to the top of Elphinstone Road. This seems to include Baird Primary Academy more clearly, and excludes Hastings College.
• Now we come to an area that has sadly been removed. Where, before, all of Mount Pleasant Road was included in Blacklands, now only the part of Mount Pleasant Road between the top end of Hughenden Road and the Langham roundabout is included. From the top of Hughenden Road, the boundary now cuts across Mount Pleasant Road and follows the railway line down to the bridge (as it did before). The houses down Ore Valley Road next to the Station have also been excluded, as has the area around Bromsgrove Bridge, which I planned to find out more about.

So now we have the original Blacklands, the updated Blacklands and the new Blacklands boundaries.

I have had a think about whether to only include the current Blacklands boundary in Blacklands and Beyond, and have decided, while respecting the newest boundary, I would like to include all of the different boundaries past and present, since the history of Blacklands originated in the old areas to become the new.

So I will now include both original, updated and new Blacklands boundaries in one map, differentiating the three:

Blacklands Historic Boundaries
Oldest boundary in green
Last boundary in yellow
Latest boundary in red

Streets (old and new) Included in Blacklands for History Research

(new roads in bold blue, roads removed in italic yellow)

Abbotsfield Close
Ashford Road (extension; previously only between St Helen's Rd and Tenterden Rise. Now whole of road.)
Ashford Way

Baldslow Road

Baird Drive

Beaconsfield Road

Beneden Rise

Bethune Way (between Queen's Roundabout and Lower Park Road - no houses)

Birch Way

Blacklands Drive

Brading Close

Brookland Close

Brook Street

Broomsgrove Road (from Mount Pleasant Road to Broomsgrove Bridge)

Canterbury Rise

Cornwallis Street

Cromer Walk (inc Mt Pleasant Villas)

Down's Road (1-25, 12-48, +evens 50-70 (72?))

Elphinstone Road (from Queens Road Roundabout to Blacklands Drive/Elphinstone Avenue +odds 79-107, +evens 106-210)

Elphinstone Avenue (East-West section to school +two north-south roads) 

Fearon Road

Freshwater Avenue

Hardrada Rise

Hillside Road (from Park Crescent to St Helen's Road)

Hole Farm Close

Hughenden Place

Hughenden Road

Keppel Road

Laton Road

Mann Street

Manston Way

Mount Pleasant Crescent

Mount Pleasant Road (odds 133-277, - evens 80-208)

Nelson Road

Ore Valley Road

Osborne Close

Parker Road (from Hughendend Road to Baird Primary School entrance +odds 33-79)

Park Drive

Park View (A few houses at Ashford Road end)

Pegwell Close

Quarry Crescent

Quarry Road

Quarry Terrace

Queen's Road (west side Alexandra Bridge to South Terrace), east side Alexandra Bridge to Stonefield Place)

Sedgebrook Gardens

Sherwood Close

South Terrace (1-10)

St Helen's Court

St Helen's Crescent

St Helen's Park Road

St Helen's Road (from Park Gates Roundabout to just beyond Ashford Road)

St James's Road

Stonefield Road (west side from Stonefield Place to Alexandra Bridge)

Stonefield Place

Streamside Close

Tenterden Rise

Thanet Way

The Gables

Turing Way

Waldene Close (?)

Waldergrave Street

Waterworks Road (inc The Yard and Morrisons)

Woodbrook Road

Jane Elizabeth Strickland (1851–1932)

Jane Elizabeth Strickland (1851–1932) by guest author Helena Wojtczak

Two Women. One Century. A Defiant Legacy.

To know Jane Elizabeth Strickland, one must first meet her mother, Mary Ann Slade—the indomitable "Grand Old Lady of Hastings." From a childhood meeting with abolitionists to a century of tireless service, Mary Ann was the "dangerous foe" of the establishment and a pioneer who disarmed the critics of women in public life.

But it was Jane who took the baton and sprinted. A champion of the nursery and the schoolroom, Jane’s quiet philanthropy masked a revolutionary spirit. When the Liberal Party faltered on the promise of the vote, Jane didn't just walk away—she rebelled, joining the radical Women’s Freedom League and sacrificing party loyalty for the principle of equality.

From the Sunday Schools of the Victorian era to the magistrate’s bench of the 1920s, the story of the Strickland and Slade women is a moving testament to a generation of "sterling character." It is a narrative of grit, faith, and an uncompromising devotion to the poor that left an indelible mark on the heart of Hastings.

Mary Ann Slade

Mary Ann Slade 1894
President of the
Women's Liberal Association (WLA)

Mary Ann Slade was born into a wealthy, Nonconformist Leeds family in 1823, Mary Ann’s moral compass was set early; she claimed a childhood meeting with the American abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe first awakened her to the sting of injustice.[1] By age 12, she was already teaching impoverished children to read and write at Sunday School—a mission of service she would pursue relentlessly for the next 80 years.

In 1850, Mary Ann married the printer and bookseller William Slade, whose family lineage included the famed philanthropist Felix Slade, founder of the Slade School of Art. When the couple moved to Hastings in 1863, William’s business evolved from selling sheet music to providing the town with pianos, organs, and banjos, eventually expanding to a second branch at 22 Grand Parade. He became a fixture of the local cultural scene, managing the Royal Concert Hall and organising recitals for the era’s premier pianists.

The ‘Grand Old Lady of Hastings’

In the streets of Hastings, Mary Ann encountered "deplorable poverty and ignorance." Convinced she was led by divine providence, she became a tireless visitor of the sick and a teacher of domestic economy to struggling mothers. Education was her crusade: she founded the Bourne Street Mission to bring literacy to fishing families and established the Priory Street Institute, where she continued to teach until she was 92. Her influence permeated the town as a governor of Waterloo Place Infants’ School and a key driver in the campaign for a hospital for the poor alongside local luminaries like William Ransom, Dr Blackwell, and Mrs Tubbs.

Described as a "gentle and charming woman" whose "whole life was devoted to helping and teaching others," she was eventually dubbed "The grand old lady of Hastings." To mark her 100th birthday, she characteristically turned her attention outward, paying for a grand tea party and entertainment for all 350 inmates of the local workhouse. The editor of the Hastings & Saint Leonard's Observer (HSLO) hailed her as the "Elizabeth Fry of the Premier Cinque Port," yet noted she was the "most determined and dangerous foe" the Conservatives faced, credited with disarming hostility toward women appearing on the public platform.[2]

Mary Ann Slade lived in Laton Road

A Political Force

Mary Ann was a staunch suffragist who attended meetings as early as the 1880s, demanding universal suffrage at age 21. She weaponised her influence, refusing to support any male candidate who denied women the vote. In 1892, she co-founded and presided over the local branch of the Women’s Liberal Association (WLA).

However, the WLA’s role was controversial. Emmeline Pankhurst later argued that the WLA was a strategic diversion created by Gladstone to keep women subservient to men's parties:

"The promise of the Federation was that by allying themselves with men in party politics, women would soon earn the right to vote. The avidity with which the women swallowed this promise... and threw themselves into the men's work was amazing."[3]

Pankhurst noted that while women provided "faithful work at elections," the men "never offered any kind of payment." [4] Despite this political friction, Mary Ann remained a pillar of the community, though she possessed a sharp, puritanical edge. She famously expressed "disgust" at the "filthy and obscene" sight of men and women wearing clothes of the opposite sex during an 1894 Guy Fawkes parade and campaigned for pubs to close as early as shops.

When Mary Ann died in 1926—just ten weeks shy of her 103rd birthday—she left behind five children. None would take up the baton more passionately than her eldest daughter, Jane.

Jane Strickland: The Torchbearer

Jane was 12 when the family settled into the maisonette above their shop at 7 Wellington Place.[5] For fifteen years, she mirrored her mother’s devotion, teaching Sunday School and playing the harmonium for workhouse inmates. In a departure from the norms of the day, she waited until age 26 to marry, choosing Francis Strickland—a corn merchant who shared her deep Robertson Street Congregationalist faith.

While Mary Ann had to build schools from the ground up, Jane operated within the new state system established in 1870. She became a beloved figure on the School Board and Education Committee; pupils regarded her as their "great friend." Her advocacy spanned the NSPCC and the Workers' Educational Association, and she co-founded the St Leonards School for Delicate Children.

Radicalisation and the Vote

Jane Elizabeth Strickland on the
cover of THE VOTE, publication of the
Women's Freedom League (WFL)

Jane’s involvement in the Women’s Liberal Federation (WLF) eventually led to a breaking point. By 1912, after twenty years of unpaid labour for a party that refused to grant her the vote, she had reached the end of her tether. She declared:

"As far as women were concerned the present Government had no right to call itself Liberal... I am prepared for the moment to sacrifice even party for the principle of equal representation."[6]

True to her word, she defected. She joined a 500-woman deputation to the Prime Minister and, while she admired the courage of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), she disagreed with its violent methods. Instead, she joined the breakaway Women’s Freedom League (WFL), serving as local president until the end of her life. Seeing the Labour Party as the only sincere ally of the suffrage movement, she threw her weight behind their candidate, Frederick Pethick Lawrence, eventually becoming vice-chair of the local branch.

A Legacy of Kindness

In her twilight years, Jane’s "sterling character" remained legendary. In 1929—the year her husband died—she was appointed a magistrate. It was a role that proved her heart was perhaps too big for the bench. Unable to bear the sight of impoverished offenders being penalised, she frequently ignored the protests of her fellow Justices of Peace and paid the fines of the defendants herself. Her colleagues held her in great esteem, but it was clear she was "far too kind-hearted... to be an effective magistrate."

Memorial Window for Jane Elizabeth Strickland
(1851-1932) at Clive Vale Congregation Church

Jane Strickland died at 83 during a holiday in Weston-super-Mare. Her passing marked the end of an era of "magnificent" conviction. As the HSLO eulogised:

"High moral courage and unflinching straightness, combined with a warm yet unsentimental heart... a quick, intelligent and keen detection of humbug, sham, or any sort falsity, made this strong combination of mother, wife, friend and public servant."[7]

Eulogy for Jane Elizabeth Strickland 1932

 

---------------------------------------

Footnotes

[1] This seems unlikely; Mrs Stowe did not visit England until 1853. [2] HSLO, 27th January 1900; 6th February 1926. [3] Pankhurst, E. (1914) My Own Story, p15. [4] Pankhurst, E. (1914) My Own Story, p16. [5] Long since demolished, the site is now covered by Sports Direct. [6] HSLO, 9th November 1912. [7] HSLO, 17th September 1932.

**Jane Elizabeth Strickland lived at Halsteads, 15 Baldslow Road. Her mother, Mary Ann Slade lived at Walcot Lodge, 26 Laton Road.

About Helena Wojtczak

Herself having broken ground in a male-dominated world, we are lucky to have the above historical taster of acclaimed guest author Helena Wojtczak's upcoming books about Jane Elizabeth Strickland for Blacklands and Beyond. Such a prolific author, she is currently writing two books about the contributions of women of Hastings to the entire women's suffrage movement from the 1870s until 1928. One will be called "Ladies of Hastings Demand The Vote" and the other will be "Hastings 1913: Why the Suffragettes Destroyed Levetleigh". Mary and Jane will be mentioned. What a gem! We'll keep in touch with Helen and keep you updated here at B&B about the book's publication.

Author Helena Wojtczak
at book-signing in Hastings
3rd January 2026

Biography

Helena has had a number of books published by The Hastings Press. 

One of Helena's areas of interest and expertise is the history women of history:

• Notable Women of Victorian Hastings (2002)
• Women of Victorian Hastings (2002)
• Women of Victorian Sussex (2003)
• Railwaywomen (2005)
• Notable Sussex Women (2008)
• Mary Raleigh Richardson (2025)

She has also written:

• Jack the Ripper at Last? (2014)

and:

• Strange Exits from Hastings. Vol.I (2020)
• Strange Exits from Hastings. Vol.II (2021) 

for which Helena may be especially known by Hastings locals (see the accompanying photo).

Happy New Year!

Elphinstone Road

Happy New Year Blacklanders. May you and yours have the best year yet!

This last year, I didn't get going on the blog and broadsheet as I had wanted (I won't go into the reasons just now...) but I feel unwavering enthusiasm about researching and discovering Blacklands history (You honestly couldn't guess how many posts I've got going at once, I'm so excited to record everything I find out about everything ha ha), It's been on my mind all this last year, even though I haven't been writing it all down.

I've had a necessary break, but now I'm back. And, as I said, I have a lot of research on the go, so I should have a regular post or two out, and hope to get another broadsheet out too. 

This time, though, I'm probably going to have to do it through a printers, since my old printer kept failing for the first one, and at least a third of the copies went into recycling (lucky I used recycled paper in the first place, so I didn't feel as bad as I otherwise might have done).

Unfortunately, this meant I didn't get a copy of the first broadsheet to everyone in the area as planned. I aim to start with those I didn't reach last time first for the next issue... just in case)

Anyway, good Blacklander folk, I wish you all a very Happy New Year, and hope you can join me discovering more about Blacklands history in 2026!