HISTORY OF BINGHAM
21st CENTURY
The first half of the century
At the time of writing, in 2021, Bingham boasts an expanding industrial estate, four supermarkets, a library, a health centre, a secondary school/academy and sixth form college, several pre-school nurseries, as well as junior and infant schools and a leisure centre. There are two churches; the Anglican parish church of St Mary and All Saints and a newly built Methodist Centre with worship space and community provision which also allows other denominations to be catered for. The parish church publishes a monthly newsletter – The Butter Cross – which contains information about most activities, societies, clubs and facilities available in Bingham together with opportunities for trades people to advertise their services. It is distributed free of charge to every household in the town. Other facilities include the Women’s Institute (WI) Hall, which is available to rent and plans are well advanced for the construction of a new community centre.
Sports facilities include a Leisure Centre with a swimming pool, athletics track, sports fields, including floodlit all-weather pitches for hockey and football, and other facilities. Several sports clubs flourish in the town, including bowls, tennis, archery, rugby union and football as well as Bingham Cricket Club, founded in 1787, and claiming to be one of the oldest in England. Other clubs and societies cater for most hobbyists' needs.
Commercial activity in the town has developed in ways which reflect ongoing changes in the shape of the service sector nationally. Increased numbers of estate agents, financial advisers and solicitors have been joined by a proliferation of restaurants, bars and fast-food outlets, together with vehicle servicing and cleaning, DIY and other leisure provision. The market was reinstated in 1975 and Bingham seems to have re-established itself as the core town in the area. The A52 by-pass completed in 1987 relieved pressure on the householders along the main route through the town. In 2012, the A46 which borders Bingham to the west was upgraded and dualled, removing a further source of heavy commercial through-traffic unable to pass below the low railway bridge on the old road; a problem exacerbated whenever the road flooded.
For many years, the expansion of Bingham appeared to have logical topographical limits: the A52, the A46 and the railway line. However, in 2013 outline planning consent was given for the construction of 1,050 new houses on land north of the railway line. The first of these were situated in a development known as Romans’ Quarter in reference to its location close the Roman site of Margidunum. The commencement of their construction in 2018 coincided with centenary of the armistice bringing to an end World War 1 and, in recognition, the streets in the first phase have been named after Bingham men who fell in that conflict.
Further expansion of housing provision around the town is all but inevitable, as are continued changes to its amenities and employment opportunities. A frequently commented on feature of the town is the friendliness of its people, something that attracted many to it during the expansion that began in the 1960s. This is still in evidence and Bingham remains a place to which people come, but don't often leave.