Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham
Diocesan bishop in the Church of England

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham”, its source revision and the description used here.
- 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.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
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.