Description: In 1899, a lease was obtained from the Duke of Portland enabling the Bolsover Colliery Company to plan sinking operations for its first Nottinghamshire Colliery. This was named the Mansfield Colliery Company, but soon became known as Crown Farm Colliery or 'Crownie' It is the colliery associated with Forest Town. In 1889, the founder of the Bolsover Colliery Company, Mr Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, (Born Northumberland 1845 - Died London 1911), had obtained from the Duke of Portland a lease for the Tophard or Barnsley coal, under areas of land in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. He then founded the Bolsover Colliery Company to take over the lease, and to mine the coal. He had already started mining at Bolsover and Creswell before building Mansfield Colliery. Sinking at the Colliery started in 1904, coal was eventually reached in May 1905. Throughout the next 83 years the colliery dominated the lives of many local families. The community was devastated when Mansfield Colliery closed in 1988. Today, all that remains is the spoil heap covered with mature trees, grasses and plants, the habitat of many species of wildlife. This is known to local people as 'Mount Crownie'. (extracted from the interesting Forest Town web site by Malcolm and Pauline Marples.)