In addition to the numerous coal seams and gravel beds within the Nottinghamshire County boundaries, another important mineral Gypsum, was commercially mined. 

The seams were near the surface, the deepest being around three hundred feet, ninety one metres varying in thickness from one to twelve feet. The main areas where seams or beds were worked being Gotham, Thrumpton, Kegworth on Soar, East Leake, Cropwell Bishop, and Newark. The purist form of gypsum alabaster being found in the Chellaston district of Derbyshire. Gypsum is used in diverse ways. Plaster of Paris, the manufacture of artificial marble, translucent and decorative alabaster, a base ingredient of cement, ground gypsum for artificial manure, rock gypsum being used for garden decoration. This industry has been engaged in locally for around three hundred years. The mines or pits were usually entered by drifts or shallow shafts the material undermined and blasted as in coal mines.  The pillar and stall system supported the underground workings. The numbers employed at individual mines were never as great as coal mines the maximum being in the hundreds. As in collieries serious accidents and fatal injuries resulted from this activity. From the 1870s the mines came under the terms of the Coal Mines Act, and fatalities were reported to the Inspectorate who attended the inquest. The men who lost their lives whilst at work are remembered in this section.