Abbey School is first depicted on the 1973 OS map. It is built on the site of Kimberworth Hospital. The hospital served as a sanatorium for sufferers of tuberculosis. The 1st Edition OS map of 1854 shows earthworks indicative of mining activity and probably associated with Dropping Well Colliery to the east. The area is labelled 'Near Common' suggesting an origin as common land. The date at which the colliery was founded is unknown but is suggested as equating to the date of the Kimberworth parliamentary enclosure award in 1800. Legibility of the former landscape is invisible.