Southwell - the city that is really a cathedral town

Until the 16th century, a town was recognised as a "city" by the English Crown if it had a diocesan cathedral within its limits. This means some cities today are very small, because they were unaffected by population growth during the Industrial Revolution-notably Wells (population about 10,000) and St David's (population about 2,000). After the 16th century, no new dioceses (and no new cities) were created until the 19th century.

Between 1836 and 1888 a number of new dioceses were created, including Southwell in 1884. However, in the new diocese of Southwell, a city was not created, because Southwell was a village without a borough corporation and therefore could not petition the Queen. The diocese covered the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and the boroughs of Derby and Nottingham were also disappointed that they would not be able to claim the title of city either.

In 2005 the diocese was renamed from "Southwell" to "Southwell and Nottingham", presumably because no-one was certain where Southwell was located!

The Venerable Bede records the baptism by Paulinus of numerous converts in the "flood of the Trent" near Tiovulginacester in the presence of Edwin of Northumbria whom he had converted to the faith in 627. There is no agreement on the exact location of Tiovulginacester, but Paulinus certainly visited the locale, and it is possible that he founded the first church in Southwell.

It is believed that this predecessor of the existing Minster existed in Saxon times, as it is thought the remains of Eadburh of Repton, Abbess of Repton, and daughter of Ealdwulf of East Anglia are buried there. She became Abbess of Repton under the patronage of her King Wulfhere of Mercia, who was the husband of her second cousin, Eormenhild. She appears in the Life of Guthlac and is believed to have died around 700, her remains being buried or later translated to Southwell Minster, where her relics were revered in the Middle Ages: "There resteth St. Eadburh in the Minster of Southwell near the water called the Trent".

Eadwy of England gifted land in Southwell to the then Archbishop of York, Oskytel in 956 and there is evidence today in the tessellated floor and the 11th century tympanum over a doorway in the north transept of the construction of the Minster from this time. This charter made by Eadwy is the first firmly dated reference to Southwell. The Domesday Book of 1086 has much detail of an Archbishop's Manor in Southwell.

From shortly after that period, a custom originated known as the Gate to Southwell. In 1109, the then Archbishop of York, Thomas I, wrote to each of the parishes in Nottinghamshire asking them to contribute to the building of the new mother church in Southwell. The proposal was agreed and each year at Whitsuntide the Mayor of Nottingham and representatives from every parish in the county would carry their contribution, known as the Southwell Pence, to the Minster to help pay for its upkeep. The procession, travelling on horseback or foot with much singing and dancing from the accompanying crowds, would set off from the Old Market Square in Nottingham headed by the Mayor and Corporation in their best ceremonial robes. Following on behind were the clergy, who used the occasion to catch up on church business, and lay people combining a pilgrimage with a holiday excursion to Southwell's grand Whitsun Fair. The Southwell Pence itself was paid in at the north porch of the Minster being received by the Chapter Clerk. The curious name of this custom - the Southwell Gate - derives from the Scandinavian word "gata" meaning street or way to and in its original form it persisted well into the 16th century.

The town featured on a number of occasions during the English Civil War, perhaps most notably the fact that King Charles I spent his last night as a free man in the public house now called the Saracen's Head (see picture), but then called The King's Head in May 1646, before surrendering to the Scottish Army stationed at nearby Kelham.

The building that is now called the Saracen's Head was originally built in 1463, after the land on that site had been gifted in 1396 by the then Archbishop of York, Thomas Arundel, to John and Margaret Fysher. When built, the first floor overhung the roadway in the vernacular of the time. The ground floor had subsequently been faced up to be flush with the floor above, but the original wall lines are still visible just inside the main arched entrance, along with the original half-timbered frontage.