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