November 14, 1701, Cornelius Empson for himself and several others presented
a petition to the Commissioners of Property at Philadelphia proposing to make a
settlement "on a tract of land about half way between Delaware and
Susquehannah, or nearer the latter, being about 24 miles distant from New
Castle, on Octorara river, in case they may have a grant of 20,000 acres in the
said place". On March 1, 1702 [new style] a warrant for land was issued for
land "beginning at the Northern Barrens between the [main branch of the
Northeast river and the Octorara Creek] and bounding it to the southward with an
east and west line parallel as near as may be to the line of the Province, and
northward next the Barrens with a line also parallel to the south bounds, and in
the said tract run 18 several divisions, each of 1000 acres." The tract was
surveyed seven and one half miles west of the northeast corner of Maryland and
extending westward thence to the Octorara Creek about ten miles. The south line
was nearly straight but the north line had offsets to include good land and
leave out the "barrens." It was about three miles north to south at
the widest part. [These barrens consist of outcroppings of serpentine stone, an
early product of the metamorphic process from ancient seabeds, and are almost
unique in the world. Some of them today can be seen in the Nottingham Park of
Chester County and nearby.]
Early purchasers were John Guest, Edward Beeson, Henry Reynolds, John
Richardson, Cornelius Empson, Ebenezer Empson, Joel Baily, James Cooper, James
Brown, Randal Janney, John Churchman, William Brown, Robert Dutton, Samuel
Littler, Andrew Job, and John Bales (or Beals). The large tract is said to have
received the name Nottingham when first laid out, and it was doubtless so called
in remembrance of the town or county of Nottingham in England. It was supposed
all to be in Pennsylvania, but when the Mason Dixon line was later drawn a
great part of the tract fell into Maryland. "Owing, no doubt, to the
variation of the compass, the lines, which were intended to be parallel to the
Maryland line, run a little south in going westward". The land north of
this tract was described as "back of Nottingham" and was subsequently
taken up in various sized and mostly irregular tracts by settlers, and was at
length included in the township of Nottingham. The early surveys were for a long
time known by the distinctive appellation of "Nottingham Lotts." In
1788 petitions were filed with the state legislatures of Pennsylvania and
Maryland to confirm the ownership of tracts which might have crossed into
neighboring jurisdictions. Since that time, the present Borough of Oxford, the
township of Londonderry, and other municipalities have been formed from the
Nottingham tract, and Nottingham itself has been split into East and West
Nottingham Townships, as well as Elk Township.