Belloc remembered, 50 years on

Despite being born in France, the great writer and poet loved Sussex and claimed it as his own.

He was happiest tramping through the countryside on epic walks, stopping off at inns along the way to quaff ales.

Now his life is being commemorated with the launch of a series of walks and talks.

A prolific writer, publishing over 150 titles on a wide range of subjects, Belloc's fascination with both Downs and Weald inspired some of his best writing.

The South Country and Halnaker Mill are tributes to the area. His novel, The Four Men, describes an epic walk through the county, while the West Sussex Drinking Song needs no explanation.

While his body is buried in the Sussex soil, his legacy lives on - not only in the printed word.

His great-grandson Charles Eustace, born a year after Belloc's death, remains in Kingsland, the old family house in Shipley, and is a trustee of his historic windmill next door, now a memorial to the writer.

Charles has brought a new generation to the family home and his children and two nieces were christened in the chapel Belloc created at Kingsland.

Last Sunday, 23 of Belloc's descendants had lunch together to mark the 50th anniversary of their ancestor's death.

Mr Eustace said: "Belloc was my mother's grandfather. She had lots of stories about him from when she would go and stay with him as a child. Apparently he was always complaining about rationing as he loved his food and drink.

"He was always the authority. He was fluent and eloquent and very proud and had great common sense.

"One of my favourite sayings of his is "Anyone can be a fool but no one has the right to be a complete bloody fool.'

"As a child we were always read his poems by the fire in the evening, so I grew up knowing all about him.

"He enjoyed a drink in the pub, which he saw as the social centre of the country.

"He was fascinated by local history and people, such as the old tales of smuggling along the Sussex shore."

Charles, who runs a hotel in Chichester, believes Belloc's artistic temperament lives on in the family.

He said: "One of my sisters is a journalist and another is a museum curator and we all sketch and draw. There's a strong interest in fine arts.

"As a trustee of his windmill and a descendant, my role is to make sure nothing is done he would have disapproved of."

Belloc started walking the Downs as a young child, having moved to Slindon in West Sussex with his mother after his father's sudden death.

The move was his first taste of stability in a chaotic life.

Born just outside Paris in 1870, a week before France declared war on Prussia, Belloc and his family fled in the face of an advancing Prussian army.

His father was Louis Belloc, a French barrister and his mother was Elizabeth Rayner Parkes, the daughter of the Birmingham radical, Joseph Parkes and grand-daughter of Joseph Priestley.

They moved permanently to England when Belloc was two but shortly afterwards his father died aged 42.

He was brought up in Sussex by his mother and educated at Cardinal Newman's oratory school in Birmingham.

After military service in France, he moved back to England in 1902.

In 1905, Belloc moved with his family to the rambling 14th Century farmhouse called Kingsland, which had an adjacent windmill.

He lived there for 47 years until his death in 1953.

Although briefly a politician and sailor, as well as historian and ardent defender of the Catholic faith, Belloc is best remembered for his witty, subversive rhymes.

He once wrote: "When I am dead, I hope it may be said/His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."

He need not have worried. Fifty years after his death, his books, particularly Cautionary Tales For Children, published in 1896, are still much loved.

Belloc's windmill at Shipley will be open to the public from 2pm to 5pm on the first, second and third Sunday of every month between now and October.

For more information on events, call 01243 753600.