Finningley

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Finningley is a village and civil parish in the City of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of Nottinghamshire. The village sits on the A614 road between Bawtry and Thorne, about six miles southeast of Doncaster. The population was 1,497 at the 2011 census.

The Finningley ward of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council covers 16.8 square miles and includes the villages of Auckley, Branton, Blaxton, Hayfield and Bessacarr Grange, plus part of Cantley.

Holy Trinity is the parish church, a Norman building with a 13th-century chancel. The name Finningley comes from Old English, meaning a clearing of the fen-dwellers.

Finningley is known for its airport, RAF Finningley. The airfield hosted a V-force of Vulcan bombers in the Cold War and was famous for a long-running air show, which lasted about 35 years. The airfield closed in April 1996 after the Cold War ended.

Plans to convert the site into a regional commercial airport were approved in 2003. First flights began in April 2005, and the airport was named Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, later Doncaster Sheffield Airport. In November 2022 it closed to passenger traffic.

There was once Finningley railway station (closed in 1961); planning permission was given for a new station, but it is now unlikely to be built.

Leon Motors, a Finningley-based bus company formed in 1922, operated in Doncaster until it was taken over in 2004 and stopped operating from Finningley.

Finningley also has a motocross venue.