[2] Gedling was recorded in the Domesday Book and is still a distinct settlement, although residential, commercial and industrial growth in the wider borough of Gedling and the neighbouring city of Nottingham, boroughs of Broxtowe and Rushcliffe and district of Ashfield (as well as the Derbyshire boroughs of Amber Valley and Erewash, which have become increasingly urban around Nottingham) means it can be difficult to distinguish the village of Gedling from the nearby town of Carlton, with which it has become contiguous.

Village pubs are the Gedling Inn[3] (once the Chesterfield Arms) and The Willowbrook on Main Road.

One hundred and twenty-eight men died at the colliery,[6] which produced over a million tonnes of coal per year in the 1960s.

[7] It developed a reputation as the "pit of all nations" because of the diversity of foreign miners who worked there:[7] in the 1960s, 10 per cent of the colliery's workforce of 1,400 were originally from the Caribbean.

[9] There are a number of paths that weave their way through the woodlands and grasslands that make up the flora and fauna within the country park.

The local school is the Carlton le Willows Academy, Wood Lane, Gedling for 11-to-18 year olds.