Southwell, diocese of

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Southwell, diocese of. This see, now roughly conterminous with Nottinghamshire, was created in 1884, following rapid population growth in the 19th cent. Initially it had combined Nottinghamshire, from the Lincoln diocese, and Derbyshire, from Lichfield, but, as the two counties proved incompatible, the new Derby diocese was created in 1927. In 1935 Southwell moved from the Canterbury province to York. It was a return home, for Nottinghamshire had been in the York diocese before its move to Lincoln in 1837. Southwell with its medieval minster, one of three (with Ripon and Beverley) in the old York diocese, and its ancient ecclesiastical associations became the see instead of Nottingham, the industrial centre. The cathedral is the former minster church, founded in 1108, dissolved in 1540, but restored in 1558. It has a fine Norman nave and transepts with a 13th-cent. choir and chapter house, where the stonework with its distinctive Southwell foliage is unique.

Revd Dr William M. Marshall

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Southwell

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