Some late eleventh century fabric survives from this church, but the majority of the building dates from between 1108 and c. 1150, when it was reconstructed in the Romanesque style.

During the Middle Ages Southwell was part of the large diocese of York, and the archbishop maintained a palace adjacent to the minster.

[2] In 956 King Eadwig gave land in Southwell to Oskytel, Archbishop of York, on which a minster church was established.

The tessellated floor and late 11th century tympanum in the north transept are the only parts of the Anglo-Saxon building remaining intact.

It served the archbishop as a place of worship and was a collegiate body of theological learning, hence its designation as a minster.

The octagonal chapter house, built starting in 1288 with a vault in the Decorated Gothic style has naturalistic carvings of foliage (the 13th-century stonecarving includes several Green Men).

[6] Southwell is where Charles I surrendered to Scottish Presbyterian troops in 1646 during the English Civil War, after the third siege of Newark.

The adjoining palace was almost completely destroyed, first by Scottish troops and then by the local people, with only the Hall of the Archbishop remaining as a ruined shell.

[7] On 5 November 1711 the southwest spire was struck by lightning, and the resulting fire spread to the nave, crossing and tower destroying roofs, bells, clock and organ.

[9] Henry Gally Knight in 1818 gave the Minster four panels of 16th century Flemish glass (which now fill the bottom part of the East window) which he had acquired from a Parisian pawnshop.

[10] In danger of collapse, the spires were removed in 1805 and re-erected in 1879–81 when the minster was extensively restored by Ewan Christian, an architect specialising in churches.

[12]: 19–20 In August 1540, as the dissolution of the monasteries was coming to an end, and despite its collegiate rather than monastic status, Southwell Minster was suppressed specifically in order that it could be included in the plans initiated by King Henry VIII to create several new cathedrals.

It appears to have been proposed as the see for a new diocese comprising Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, as a replacement for Welbeck Abbey which had been dissolved in 1538 and which by 1540 was no longer owned by the Crown.

The Ecclesiastical Commissioners made provision for the abolition of the chapter as a whole; the death of each canon after this time resulted in the extinction of his prebend.

The chapter came to its appointed end on 12 February 1873 with the death of Thomas Henry Shepherd, rector of Clayworth and prebendary of Beckingham.

[22] Two stages of the inside of the central tower can be seen at the crossing, with cable and wave decoration on the lower order and zigzag on the upper.

Inside the chapter house, the stalls fill the octagonal wall sections, each separated by a single shaft with a triangular canopy above.

[3][8]: 87–105  This straightforward description gives no indication of the glorious impression, noted by so many writers,[8]: 91  of the elegant proportions of the space, and of the profusion (in vestibule and passage, not just in the chapter house) of exquisitely carved capitals and tympana, mostly representing leaves in a highly naturalistic and detailed representation.

The central archway rises higher than the lower storey, with an ogee arch surmounted by a cusped gable.

[3] The finest memorial in the minster is the alabaster tomb of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York (died 1588).

The boys and girl choristers usually sing as separate groups, combining for particularly important occasions such as Christmas and Easter services, and notable events in the life of the minster.

Services have been sung in Southwell Minster for centuries, and the tradition of daily choral worship continues to thrive.

A 2020 tour to Schwerin, Germany was planned (together with Lincoln Cathedral Consort), but this was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.