Wingates is a small village located about 3 miles west of Longhorsley and 2 miles north-east of Nunnykirk. The village and surrounding farms were once part of a larger township and estate. The Village Institute was built in 1915 by the then estate owner, J.H. Straker of the Straker family, to commemorate the 21st birthday of his daughter, Edith Helen Straker. After the Straker estate was broken up in 1959, the Village Institute was gifted to the Wingates community and run for many years by the Wingates Women's Institute. It is now run as a charity (Charity No. 1088983) by a management committee of locally elected Trustees.
In 2007, the then Wingates History Group, under the wider umbrella of the Coquetdale Community Archaeology Project, produced on behalf of the local community the 'Wingates Historic Atlas'. A copy of this very substantial book is owned by the Village Institute and other copies are lodged in the Northumberland Archives and some will have been retained by local residents. The Atlas contains a good deal of very detailed historical information regarding the properties within the old Wingates estate, compiled by the Archaeological Practice Ltd. who produced and delivered the printed Atlas and helped to produce similar books for several other north Northumberland villages. It also contains eleven transcripts of interesting oral history interviews conducted by members of the History Group with older residents of Wingates.
The buildings remain but there have been many other changes in the fifteen years since the 'Wingates Historic Atlas' was produced. The Wingates History Group as such no longer exists. The Atlas focussed on the history of the built environment and whilst this is fascinating, much scope remains to explore the lives of those who lived and worked here, through further oral history work and through photographic and other documentation. In particular the present management committee, in conjunction with the Village Hall Heritage Project Year 2, wants to explore what the Village Institute has meant to people at different times, how it has been used and what future role it might play in support of this small rural community. The Institute is the only public building in Wingates village and indeed in the whole civil parish of Nunnykirk, the nearest schools being in Longhorsley and Rothbury and the nearest places of worship being in Netherwitton, Longhorsley and Rothbury.