Wikipedia
Finningley is a village and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of Nottinghamshire, Finningley lies along the A614 road, about six miles from the centre of Doncaster, at , and at an elevation of around seven metres above sea level. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,442, increasing slightly to 1,497 at the 2011 Census. The parish church of Holy Trinity is Norman, with a 13th-century chancel.
The place name Finningley contains the Old English word, fenn, a fen, a marsh, marshland + -ingas (Old English), the people of . . . ; the people called after . . . + lēah (Old English), a glade, clearing; (later) a pasture, meadow.'...so 'Clearing of the fen-dwellers'.
Finningley is known for its airport, formerly RAF Finningley. The station housed a 'V' force of Vulcan bombers during the Cold War, and for 35 years it hosted a regular air show which, by the 1990s, was the largest one-day military air show in the country. However, the end of the Cold War led to the airfield being closed in April 1996, with the air show dying with it.
The 2,741 metre long runway, currently the second longest in the north of England, was sufficiently large to take even Concorde, and in the period after the closure of the RAF airfield there were several campaigns to turn Finningley into a commercial airport for the unserved South Yorkshire region (as well as Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire).
Plans for the conversion were finally approved in 2003, with the first flights in April 2005. It is anticipated that the airport, renamed Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield, will reach maximum capacity by 2014. Planning permission for a new railway station to serve it was recently granted - the former station serving it and the village having closed back in 1961.
Leon Motors, a bus company located in Finningley, operates buses in Doncaster. Formed in 1922, it was taken over by MASS of North Anston during 2004.
Finningley is also home to a famous Motocross venue called Doncaster Moto Parc which attracts riders from all over the country.