[4] In an 1824 published geological study, 19th-century Blackwell was described as follows: "Descending into a little valley at Blackwater, slate and compact rock present themselves in a section afforded by a ravine.

In this valley cultivated fields and a few trees gladden the eye; but this oasis is of little extent; for a steep ascent leads again to the common, which extends as far as Chasewater, over rocks of the same character of..." bright red remains of mining operations.

Wheal Friendly cannot battle with hard times any longer and is about to be wound up…[7]In 1980 Nicholas Warrell, having secured £500,000 in investment monies, and Jack Trounson reopened the mines and produced 21,000 tonnes of tin.

The Blackwater Methodist Church was completed in 1825, added a gallery in 1832 and received a pipe organ in 1923.

[11] The local Blackwater Community Primary School provides services for infants, children 3–5 and juniors.

The idea for the institute sprouted from a request for books for Blackwater's citizens by the Reverend of the Mithian church, Fursdon Rogers.

James Prowse & Son created the masonry work and the exterior was decorated by Mr Craze and Solomon & Company.

[14] The building has also been used for local meetings, County Technical Instruction Committee classes, men's snooker club and the 1920 Coroner's inquest into the unsolved double murder of Joseph Hoare and Laura Sara.

[15] He had the Blackwater Institute built within a few hundred yards of the site of the cottage of his birth and youth.