Southwell Walk: Town Centre【4K】

Located in the county of Nottinghamshire, and around 12 miles northeast of Nottingham is the town of Southwell (whose pronunciation is a matter of much debate, with some pronouncing it phonetically, i.e. SOUTH-well, and others opting for SUTH-ull).

Geographically, Southwell is situated in the heart of the Nottinghamshire countryside, with the Fosse Way (the Roman road connecting Exeter to Lincoln) just a few miles away. Roman activity here has been inferred from the discovery of the remains of a villa.

At the heart of the town is Southwell Minster. This dates from 1108 - the year in which the Normans began its construction on the site of an Anglo-Saxon predecessor. Situated just next to it is the Archbishop's Palace, dating from the 14th century and likewise on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon dwelling. Seen prominently from just before the 3-minute mark, this has been where the Archbishops of York have taken residence while visiting for several centuries.

In 1530 Cardinal Wolsey visited Southwell, during which time he held his final meetings regarding his failure to secure Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Wolsey succumbed to illness later that year. Charles I came to Southwell in 1646 shortly before being turned in by Scottish Commissioners after dining at the Saracen's Head (the black and white building seen prominently just after the 12-minute mark - ironically, it was known as the King's Head at the time). Parliamentarians partially dismantled the Archbishop's Palace not long afterwards.

In 1809 the Bramley cooking apple was first cultivated in Southwell by a young local girl named Mary Ann Brailsford, who took pips from her mother's cooking apples and planted them in the family garden.

In 1847 a railway station opened in Southwell courtesy of the Midland Railway. This formed part of the Rolleston Junction–Mansfield Line. The station closed to passengers in 1959, and to freight in 1964. The nearest station to the town today is Fiskerton, around two miles away. Direct buses to Southwell are available from Nottingham, Mansfield and Newark-on-Trent, among other nearby locations.

In 1884 Southwell Minster was upgraded to the status of cathedral, making the town the see of a diocese spanning Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Following Derby's own parish church being similarly upgraded to a cathedral, in its case in 1927, the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, as it is presently known, was contracted to just Nottinghamshire and a tiny part of South Yorkshire.

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Filmed: 12th September 2025

Link to the walk on Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/JkynFD1Nmqbq7...

Filmed on a Sony FDR-AX700 with a Zhiyun Crane 2 and a Sony ECM-XYST1M Stereo Microphone.

0:00 Southwell Minster
10:53 Westgate
11:47 Market Place
12:38 Queen Street
15:09 King Street