CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham

Diocesan bishop in the Church of England

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 7, 2024
Entity authorityQ4917979 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the Province of York.

The diocese covers 847 square miles (2,190 km2) including the whole of Nottinghamshire and a small area of South Yorkshire. The see is in the town of Southwell where the seat is located at the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also known as Southwell Minster), which was elevated to cathedral status in 1884. The bishop's residence is Bishop's Manor, Southwell — in the minster precincts.

The diocese was created in 1884. Until 2005 it was known simply by the name "Southwell"; Nottingham was added to the title in that year. The current bishop is Paul Williams, whose election was confirmed on 11 May 2015. There are 314 church buildings in the Diocese.

The bishop is assisted by the suffragan Bishop of Sherwood, the current incumbent being Andy Emerton.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham” is diocesan bishop in the Church of England. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Bishop, Southwell and Nottingham, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1884, 2005, 2015—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1884-02-05. For this dossier, Bishop, Southwell and Nottingham is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “diocesan bishop in the Church of England” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 7, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q4917979. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1884, 2005 and 2015.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham primary sources, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham archive and Bishop research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.