Local Heritage at Bingham Library

The collection at Bingham Library is all on the single floor, with level access throughout.

The collection contains a range of material relating to Bingham and the surrounding area, with background material on Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands.

There are resources to help you trace:

•          History of local places
•          Recent local developments
•          Transport
•          Local industries/businesses
•          Social history
•          Family history

The book collection has approximately 1000 volumes, including Andrew Esdaile “Bingham with some account of East Bridgford and ……” 1851 and Felix Oswald “Magidunum: an account of excavations on the site of the Roman station on the Fosse Way …” 1927.

Some items are only available to be consulted in the library, but wherever possible we offer a loan copy of the title as well. The majority can be searched for on the library catalogue but some are not yet included. The Local Studies classification numbers can be used to find books on specific themes e.g. L90.2 Bingham is the reference for titles concerned with the history of the town in general, but topics such as Farming or Religion have specific numbers – indexes are available, and staff will be able to help.

Titles in the collection include:

• The Nottinghamshire Historian
• Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire (history and archaeology)
• East Midlands History and Heritage
  

The library does not hold any local newspapers on microfilm. Articles relating to Bingham may be found in the Newark Advertiser on microfilm at Newark Library, where there is an incomplete card index.

Not all Nottinghamshire titles are currently included in the British Newspaper Archive, although there may be relevant articles in other titles accessible via this FREE subscription available in Inspire Libraries and at Nottinghamshire Archives.
A list of Nottinghamshire titles in digital format on the British Newspaper Archive can be found here.

The trade directories, some county-wide, covering the period from around 1790, give contemporary information about Bingham, including listings of local industries, and prominent people. Some are in microfiche format and a non-digital reader is provided.

Files have been compiled over many years containing newspaper cuttings, leaflets and uncatalogued information on various themes, including local industries, biographies etc. arranged by theme in filing cabinets

The collection includes hundreds of mounted images, mainly covering the period from the 1850s to the 1980s.
These are arranged by theme in filing cabinets and an index to the classification scheme is available.

Over 25,000 Nottinghamshire images have been digitised and are available on the Inspire Picture Archive.

The Library holds maps and plans covering the period from around 1790 to the early 21st century. 
These include Ordnance Survey large scale 6-inch and 25-inch plans (plus metric equivalents) of the area from c.1880, and some copies of earlier maps e.g. a copy of an  Enclosure map of Aslockton, 1781.

Maps are available to browse. If you have a specific query about mapping please contact us direct via Ask Inspire

The free access to Ancestry.co.uk in Inspire libraries and at Nottinghamshire Archives is the most convenient way of searching for Census information.

Parish Registers on microfiche cover Bingham (and surrounding parishes) from 1598 into the Twentieth Century (where they survive). Microfiche copies in the library have been well-used for many years, but from August 2022 the majority of records are available via Inspire's FREE subscription to Ancestry.co.uk. A full list of those available online is here.

A separate family history collection of some key titles to help with the process of researching family history is also available in general library stock.

For help with specific enquiries please contact Ask Inspire. 

Archival records such as wills, diaries, original parish registers, business and personal correspondence etc. are held at NottinghamshireArchives:

County House
Castle Meadow Road
Nottingham
NG2 1AG
Email: archives@inspireculture.org.uk
Tel: 0115 9581634