Nottingham Colliery

The Nottingham Colliery was located in Plymouth, behind the Family Dollar and along Nottingham Street. Foundations, a basement, various concrete footers, two buildings, and a fan house/shaft house foundation along Shawnee Avenue are all the remain of the colliery today. This colliery dates back to 1865, when the Nottingham Coal Company was founded. Shortly after obtaining a lease from the Reynolds family of Plymouth, a coal breaker was constructed and a 380 foot shaft was sunk. Over time, the owners would change. On April 1, 1872, the lease to the colliery was sold to Lehigh Navigation & Coal Company and on January 1, 1874 it was then sold to Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, which under their lease it was called the Nottingham No. 15 Colliery. Sometime in 1904, a new breaker was constructed to replace the old one, which was built on the shaft. The colliery ended it's operations when the second breaker was demolished in August of 1936, the mines were still mined until the 1950s and the coal was shipped to the Lance Breaker to be processed.

The first breaker (left) and the second (right) still under construction in 1904. These lands have changed drastically since this photo was taken. 

Today a church and its parking lot now stand where the breakers once stood. The two buildings that stand now house Campas Collision.

The church and Campas Collision in view. 

Campas Collision now houses in this building.

A close up of the front of this building reveals the words: Nottingham Coal Works 1866 engraved onto it.

The second building that still stands. If you look at the post card on the top of the page, you can see the first building but not this one standing. Perhaps this one was built at a later date?

Various concrete pieces dumped in the woods, across from the church.

The rest of the remains are in a small wooded area behind the Family Dollar. The engine house foundation, boiler house foundation and basement, and an unknown building foundation remain. A large mound of fill can also be seen. That is where the slope was. I'm unsure when it was filled.

Looking at the fill, where the slope is located, from the foundation of the engine house.

The foundation to the engine house. The boiler house foundation and a home can be seen in the background.

A close up of the engine house foundation. A cut out can be seen and was most likely where part of the engine rested upon.

Some bolts can be seen sticking out of the ground from the engine house.

Just next to this foundation is another, much larger, foundation. I am unsure what building it may of been. This foundation can be seen from the parking lot of Family Dollar.

The foundation to the unknown building as seen from the parking lot. The trees growing there have caused those walls to come down.

Part of the foundation that has cut outs in it. Something most likely attached here.

The rest of this foundation is basically flat and only has some bolts sticking out of the walls every now and then. From here, the boiler house foundation can be seen, it can be seen from the engine house foundation as well.

The boiler house foundation as seen from the engine house foundation.

The boiler house foundation as seen from the unknown building foundation. The opening into the basement can be seen.

 From here, you can see the basement opening, which was filled at one point, which is why that mound is there. The basement opening looks like a poorly filled slope entrance. Between the two foundations and the boiler house foundation are many concrete footers laying about, some with metal sticking out of them still.

Pieces like this lay about and just beg for someone to trip over them.

After a short walk of avoiding those and thorns, the basement can be accessed.

A close up at the basement entrance.

Looking inside the basement.

Once inside you can see light coming in from the left. It may of gone that way but is collapsed. To the right, it goes a little bit, with a brick roof. It is collapsed there and climbing up the rubble to the top of the foundation is the way out, but to the left, the continuation into the back part of the basement can be seen.

Just inside the basement, looking out.

Inside the basement with the brick roof. The opening is to the left.

Looking at the left part where the roof of the basement has collapsed.

Looking to the right, where the ceiling has collapsed. You can see part of one of the beams.

Once out of the rubble, a small opening, mostly filled from the collapse, is seen to the left.

This small opening is the way into the back part of the basement.

Once in there, there is a tiny hallway.

The tiny hallway that leads into the back part of the basement.

 Once inside the back part, it goes to the left and the right.

Looking to the right.

Looking to the left. Light comes in due to a collapse.

I'm unsure what the purpose to the basement was but on the ceiling are what appears to be hatches that opened up and on the walls are, what appears to of been, chutes of some sort. Perhaps soot was sent down here.

A close up at one of the possible chutes in the wall, now filled with rubble from the building.

A look at the possible hatch on the ceiling.

Looking down the tiny hallway to the outside.

There's not much in the basement except some garbage. A small walk from here and the collapsed portion of the foundation/basement can be seen.

The part of the boiler house foundation that is collapsed. The fence in the background is part of someone's yard.

A few blocks from all of this is the foundation to the fan house/shaft house for the Nottingham Colliery. This foundation is along Shawnee Avenue.

The foundation seen on a rainy day.

The various times I've been to the Nottingham, nothing has really changed. Within a few years though, I'm sure more of the boiler house basement will collapse though. These photos were taken during 2010 and 2011.

One last photo of the length of the basement, with the flashlight focused on the end of it.