It was built between 1841 and 1844, costing £15,000 (equivalent to £1,890,000 in 2023),[2] and was first consecrated in 1844, fifteen years after the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 ended most restrictions on Catholicism in the United Kingdom.

Pugin was retained as architect by Rev Robert William Willson, then priest in charge of Nottingham.

The cathedral is a Grade II* listed building[5] of the lancet style of architecture[citation needed] Most of Pugin's decorative scheme was destroyed in the upheaval that surrounded the Second Vatican Council, when the old high altar was discarded, and most of the painted decoration smothered and painted plain.

Buildings of England wrote:[citation needed] 'The whole effect could hardly be further from the richness of decoration and atmosphere that Pugin intended'.

The cathedral's choral scholarships are available to students above or of eighteen years of age who are in full-time tertiary education in the Nottingham area.