Blackwell is a village in Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 4,389.[1] It is one of the four villages that make up the civil parish of Blackwell within the District of Bolsover - the other villages being Hilcote, Newton and Westhouses. The Parish Council meets monthly. A brief history of the Parish of Blackwell was published in 1994 (the centenary year of the formation of Blackwell Parish Council).[2]
Another native of Blackwell was Percy Toplis – The Monocled Mutineer – who went on to become a mutineer and conman during and after World War I. Toplis, while wanted for murdering a taxi driver, was eventually shot and killed by police officers on the Scottish Borders.[3] A television series based on the life of the Monocled Mutineer was written by Alan Bleasdale in 1986 and broadcast on the BBC.
In 1910 the highest ever ninth-wicket partnership in first-class cricket was scored by John Chapman and Arnold Warren batting for Derbyshire against Warwickshire. Still unsurpassed over a hundred years later, the record stand of 283 was made in three hours.[4] At that time Blackwell Miners Welfare possessed a first-class playing surface and was one of the grounds sometimes used by Derbyshire CCC for County Championship fixtures. The ground still exists today, and is little changed from how it was in 1910, but it is now only used for cricket at a local level, and also for football.
The main industry of Blackwell was coal mining. On 11 November 1895, seven men were killed in an underground explosion at the colliery. The mine was closed in 1969 since when light industry has taken over.
Blackwell has one church: St Werburgh's Parish Church .[5]
