In 1596 Peter Blackett, a younger son of Thomas Blackett of Woodcroft, acquired from Christopher Wall lands and tenements in Stanhope, a few miles north-west of Woodcroft. This was almost certainly Greenhead, which lies slightly to the west of Stanhope. In a charter dated 1605 Peter is referred to as “of Greneheade [sic], near Stanhope, gentleman”, and in a quit claim dated 1615 as “of Greenhead, Stanhope, gentleman”. On Peter’s death at Greenhead in 1632 the property passed to his son and heir John (1606-1670) and thence on to John’s son and heir William (1643-1699). William had at least four children born at Greenhead between 1677 and 1688, and died there in 1699. After the death of his wife Jane in 1701, however, the property seems to have been sold.
In 1701, shortly after the death of his mother, William’s eldest son, John (1677-1739), married Alice Walton of Ravensfield, east of Stanhope and just across the valley from Woodcroft, and the couple settled there, John dying at Ravensfield in 1739. John’s son William (1711-1792) was described as a yeoman “of Ravensfield” in his marriage licence dated 1747, but the Blacketts seem to have left Ravensfield shortly afterwards and branches of the family settled for a time at the neighbouring farms of Shittlehopeside and Jolly Body, before finally moving to Stanhope.