The place-name Bingham seems to contain an Old English personal name, Bynna + ingahām . The Romans built a fortress at Margidunum and a settlement at the river crossing at Ad Pontem on the Fosse Way, which ran between Isca and Lindum. The south-east of Nottinghamshire later formed the wapentake of Bingham. Bingham acquired a market charter in 1341.
Dormitory town
Bingham has expanded vastly since the 1950s, and much of the housing is relatively new. Most of the older buildings are in the centre. About 500 houses are being built bordering the A52 and the existing Mill Hill estate. There have been concerns that the 1,000+ people who will move into these new houses will require services which the local councils seem reluctant to provide, despite the large sums gained for the Exchequer from the sale of the land in public ownership. Another 1,000 houses are planned as part of future Bingham, north of the railway line. The A46, to the west of the town, was upgraded and completed in 2013 as a grade-separated dual carriageway. The Widmerpool-Newark Improvement has been diverted to the west of the former Roman town to preserve archaeological remains. The A52 bypass to the south of the town opened in December 1986.
The Anglican parish Church of St. Mary and All Saints, Bingham, occupies a Grade I listed medieval building restored in 1845–1846 and again in 1912. It has a peal of eight bells and a 19th-century organ. It belongs to the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. A new Bingham Methodist Church and social centre, built by public subscription, opened on 1 April 2016 at Eaton Place, on the site of the earlier church. It belongs to the Grantham and Vale of Belvoir Circuit. Archive documents for Bingham Methodist Circuit date back to 1843.
Economy
Although Bingham is largely a dormitory town for Nottingham, it also has a number of thriving businesses and a busy centre. The town has a shop vacancy rate of just 2 per cent against an East Midlands average of 16 per cent.* There are 20 takeaways and places to eat, 11 hairdressers/salons, 5 estate agents and 39 other retail outlets. There is an open-air food market in the central Market Place every Thursday, and a farmers' market there on the third Saturday of the month. Bingham also provides shopping, medical and other services to those in the surrounding villages. Planning permission has been obtained to build a large supermarket near the town centre, but construction has not yet commenced. In March 2015 planning permission was granted for two other chain supermarkets. To the north of the town is an industrial estate with about 40 businesses. The largest include GWIBS 24/7, Focus Label Machinery, Trent Designs, XACT Document Solutions, The Workplace Depot and Water at Work, and a business club.
Film and TV locations
Bingham was a location in Midlands film director Shane Meadows' film Twenty Four Seven, which contained scenes shot at Toot Hill top field, the Linear Walk, and Bingham Boxing Club. Bingham has also been in two episodes of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, as well as some episodes of Crossroads, Woof! and Boon. Robot Wars series 3, Jungle Run and scenes from Shane Meadows' 2006 filmThis is England were filmed nearby on the former RAF Newton site. Dickinson's Real Deal was filmed at the Bingham Leisure Centre in 2015 and broadcast on TV on ITV1 in March 2016. Four in a Bed, , was filmed at in May 2016 and first aired in the late autumn of 2016.
Notable people
In birth order:
Thomas Foster, first-class cricketer with Nottingham Cricket Club, was reportedly born in Bingham.
Robert Lowe, first Viscount Sherbrooke, was a statesman born in Bingham into the family of the Rector of the parish.
Thomas Brown, first-class cricketer, was born in Bingham.
Philip Miles, first-class cricketer, was born in Bingham.
John Brown, first-class cricketer was born in Bingham.
Albert Widdowson, first-class cricketer, was born in Bingham.
Harry Churchill Beet, awarded a Victoria Cross for valour at Wakkerstroom, South Africa, in the Second Boer War on 22 April 1900, was born at Brackendale Farm near Bingham.
Stafford Castledine, first-class cricketer, was born in Bingham.
Mary Joynson, director of Barnardo's from 1973 to 1984, was born in Bingham.
Spencer Cozens is a Bingham-born musician, writer and producer.
Jonathan Stenner, cricketer and gastroenterologist, was born in Bingham.
There used to be six pubs in the town, of which four remain as such: the White Lion, the Butter CrossWetherspoons and the Horse and Plough. The Moot House has been redeveloped, and the former Bingham has reopened as a pub-restaurant and been renamed the Wheatsheaf. Bingham Leisure Centre has sports facilities and a swimming pool. The facilities are attached to Toot Hill School. Bingham has Scout troops totalling around 140 young people: 1st Bingham Scouts includes Beavers and Cubs. The town's sports clubs are:
in Bavaria, Germany. Music groups have visited to and from the twin towns, and a beer festival is held in Bingham every year.
Transport
provides a frequent public bus service into Nottingham. Bingham's railway station provides a less frequent service to and beyond Nottinghm and Grantham and to Skegness.
Bus services
Vectare
833: Bingham Circular via Cropwell Bishop, Langar, Orston and Aslockton
Centrebus
X6: Bingham–Grantham
Trent Barton
Rushcliffe Main Line: Bingham–Radcliffe–West Bridgford–Nottingham
