The history of farmers here can be traced back to the 1841 census when Roger Wall (I) was in residence with his wife Mary Gregory, although it is not known how long they had been at Blackwell by 1841. Roger Wall was born in 1771 in Darley Dale, Matlock where the Wall family appear to have been significant landowners. There are no children found to Roger and Mary, and by 1861 the farm was occupied by his nephew Roger Wall (II). He had married Hannah Lee at Ashover in 1824, and moved to Blackwell after Roger (I) had retired.
By 1881 Roger Wall (II) had died and he is buried in Blackwell Churchyard. Wife Hannah and daughter Mary were still at the farm and were assisted by Hannah’s nephew William Tomlinson Lee from Ashover, who shortly afterwards took over as farmer with his Blackwell born wife Georgiana. 8 children were born to them in Blackwell, and it is not known at present how long the family stayed at the farm. Several appear to have moved back to the Ashover district farms of their ancestors. But by 1939 Charles Mather was in residence; he had been born at Staveley to William Mather and Kate Tomlinson who was related distantly to William Tomlinson Lee.
Charles or Charlie is said to have liked a whisky or 2, either at the Robin Hood or the Shoulder of Mutton at Hardstoft. It was there that he drove by horse and cart most lunchtimes, with the horse in charge of finding the way home. On one occasion, he took the corner by the George and Dragon badly and crashed into the wall of the stackyard at Newton Farm; the same wall that has had more collisions with HGV trucks in the last 20 years!