| Since the mid
eighteenth century the development of this ancient Market Town has
been based on farms, closes, orchards, yards, and infill. Mills,
blacksmiths, wheelwrights and other trades grew up along with shops
and services to support an agricultural economy. The rural industry
of framework knitting was widespread and by 1845 there were 58 stocking
frames in the town; it declined quickly after 1860. The railway
opened in 1850 and Victorian infill provided a range of villas for
locals and early commuters to Nottingham. Development gathered pace
after 1960 and a succession of housing estates has spawned the modern
dormitory town.
The present grid like plan of the older part of town probably betrays
a degree of medieval town planning. A walk around the areas of the
town listed below will be enhanced by reference to our historical
descriptions of them (follow the links below for each group of streets
- a leaflet is also available at the Old Court House or the library),
and indeed by reference to our series of comparisons of old
and new views of some particular locations.
Early buildings tended to face south with small windows and larders
on their north side. Almost every street has examples of buildings
from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, demonstrating the degree
of infill that has occurred over that time.
Bingham has no really architecturally impressive buildings, but
there are many architectural details
of different brickwork, architectural decoration, windows and eves
to be seen.
Few extant buildings are pre-1700. BHTA has been fortunate in being
allowed access to a number of sets of deed documents revealing the
history of many buildings in
the town.
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The water supply
to most pre-1920 houses was from a well (usually with a wood enclosed
pump) and a soft water cistern fed from the gutters. Many are still
in evidence but few can be seen from the road. Many buildings have
boot scrapers that predate the paving of the town in the 1870s.
Residents of Bingham are invited to let us know of any additions
or amendments they feel would enhance the material on this part
of the web site. In particular we should like to hear from anyone
who has documentary material such as house deeds, interesting photographs,
billheads etc they would like to contribute to make the web site
an even more useful resource and add to its interest. Deed documents
tend to date only from the point at which a property passed out
the estate, so there is often little historical information for
many of the older houses.
From the 16C Bingham was largely owned by The Earls of Chesterfield
and in the late 19C the estate passed by marriage to the Earls of
Carnarvon, one of whom was involved with the excavation of Tutankhamen
in 1923. He sold many freeholds in 1920 and what remained passed
the Crown in 1925 in lieu of death duties. The family names of both
earls are recalled in street and other names - Stanhope Way, Porchester
Road, Chesterfield Avenue, Carnarvon Place, The Chesterfield Arms,
Porchester Farm, and Carnarvon School. We have researched the derivation
of all street names in the town.
Bingham has grown significantly since about 1950 when major slum
clearance programme was implemented. BHTA has traced the physical
development of the town through
successive generations.
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