Finningley

The Library at Worksop is an excellent resource.

The Library at East Retford is also a good place to find family information.

Graham HOGG has a photograph of the Lych Gate at the New Cemetery on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2017.

Jonathan CLITHEROE has a photograph of the graves in the churchyard at Holy Trinity and Saint Oswald's Church on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2016.

• The parish was in the Bawtry sub-district of the Doncaster Registration District.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and Saint Oswald.
   
• There has been a church here since Saxon times.
   
• The date of construction is thought to be in the early Norman period.
   
• The church tower was built between 1080 and 1090.
   
• The church was restored in 1884-5 by Charles Hodgson FOWLER.
   
• A Reordering Project in 2017 led to the removal of the pews, stalls and desks from the church and the installation of a kitchen in the west end of the north aisle, new toilets in the tower and underfloor heating.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of Holy Trinity Church on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2006.
   
• The church has been "governed" as part of Yorkshire, with intervals when it was part of Nottinghamshire.

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1557.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Retford.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1838.
   

• The parish was in the Bawtry sub-district of the Doncaster Registration District.
   
• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   

Finningley is a village and a parish with three townships; Finningley, Awkley and Blaxton. Blaxton is wholly in the West Riding of Yorkshire, And Awkley is mostly in the same West Riding of Yorkshire. The rest is in Nottingham. The parish lies 151 miles north of London and 7 miles south-east of Doncaster and 4 miles north of Bawtry. The parish covers 5,970 acres.

The Idle River runs past the southern end of the village. If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A614 arterial road north-east out of Bawtry. Just before Austerfield, bear right, east, and follow the county road to Misson.
   
• There is a Duckpond in the village gree. Drivers, the ducks have the right-of-way.
   
• There is a railway running through the parish, but passenger service ceased in 1961.
   
• You might enjoy a visit to Finningley dot Org to familiarize yourself with the parish.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the village green on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2007.
   
• Neil THEASBY has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2017.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• We have an extract from White's 1853 Directory relating to this parish.

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Finningley to another place.

• Admiral Martin FROBISHER of Queen Elizabeth's Navy was born here around 1537. "Frobisher Bay" in Canada is named after him. He was also knighted for fighting against the Spanish Armada. He served as the vice admiral of Sir Francis Drake's expedition to the West Indies.
   
• Rose Elsie Neville Howey, known as Elsie HOWEY, an English suffragette, was born here on 1 December 1884. She was a militant activist with the Women's Social and Political Union and was jailed at least six times between 1908 and 1912.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK672992 (Lat/Lon: 53.485235, -0.988757), Finningley which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The Royal Flying Corps established an airfield here in 1915 to protect Sheffield from Zeppelin raids.
   
• In 1935 the RAF refurbished the field in expectation of war.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of Leon's Bus Depot on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2007.
   
• During the Cold War, Vulcan bombers were stationed here.
   
• In 1996 RAF Finningley was closed.
   
• Three years later the land was purchased and the field became part of Robin Hood Airport, Doncaster.
   
• Derek DYE has a photograph of Robin Hood Airport on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2017.
   
• Graham HOGG has a photograph of Red Arrows at Robin Hood Airport on Geo-graph, taken in September 1982.
   
• Above the altar in the parish church is a stained glass window which is a tribute to those who served in World War I and the 22 men who did not return. The 22 who fell are listed on a brass plaque on the wall.
   
• In the churchyard extension there are 44 Commonwealth War Graves from World War II.
   

These are the names on the shiny brass plaque in the Holy rinity and Saint Oswald's Church:

1. Walter Charles Andrew
2. Arthur Bamford
3. Leonard Brown
4. Joseph Chadburn
5. Harry Wilfred Wallace Chipp
6. George Croft
7. Charles Drinkall
8. John Noel Forster
9. Frank Garnett
10. William Edward Godley
11. Joseph Arthur Hardwick
12. John William Hardwick
13. Charles Arthur Hoyle
14. Charles Massey
15. George W. Priest
16. Henry Watnedge Rawson
17. Joseph Reynolds
18. Thomas Allen Troop
19. William Turner
20. A. Wall
21. Ernest A. Wright

Graham HOGG has a photograph of the War graves in Finningley New Cemetery on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2017.

On the south wall of the church nave are two plaques. One is a general memorial to the men of the RAF. Below that is a plaque giving these names from World War Two:

1. Dennis Brownbridge
2. Harold Hartley
3. Matthew Bean Holden
4. T. Kilcoyne
5. Anthony Mullican
6. John Nundy
7. Arthur Philips
8. E. R. Sweetman
9. T. C. Winters

• This place was an ancient parish in Nottingham and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• Finningley township is within the parliamentary borough of East Retford.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Bassetlaw Wapentake (Hundred) in the northern division of the county.
   
• Blaxton, being in Yorkshire, was in the ancient Starfforth and Tickhill Wapentake and partly in the Soke of Doncaster.
   
• The Civil Parish of Finningley was abolished in 1974.
   
• The village was merged into the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
   
• Jonathan THACKER has a photograph of the Villag Hall on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2015.

• Bastardy cases would be heard at the Retford petty session hearings held in West Retford.
   
• The Common Lands were enclosed here in 1774.
   
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, this parish became part of the Doncaster Poor Law Union.
   

Year	Finningley	Auckley
1801	292	137
1851	404	100
1861	434	-
1871	415	-
1881	376	-
1891	328	-
1901	352	95
1911	337	-
1921	400	-

• A National School was built here before 1869.