Joanna Cowell from Cotgrave, has published a book titled Travels with the Reluctant Ghost Hunter, featuring a collection of her own experiences travelling around Nottingham and the UK visiting various mysterious or haunted locations. Below she talks about Southwell Minster.
Continuing with Timpson’s Leyline from last month near Newark, we reach the end point here at beautiful Southwell Minster.
Not only does the Minster appear stunning from the outside with its three impressive Norman towers, but inside the architectural wonders continue to delight and uplift the senses.
Even before you first enter through the North Porch entrance, please remember to look up and marvel at one of my favourite carvings; beakheads. I can’t believe I have visited here so many times and never spotted them before! They are often found surrounding doorways in Romanesque and Norman churches, and are both intriguing and downright bizarre. But for me they add an air of mystery which I absolutely love.
Inside the Minster and above the door which leads to the belfry is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon sculptures in the Midlands. It depicts St Michael and the dragon (the dragon as mentioned previously possibly also linking us to the earth energies that run here).
There is so much else to enjoy discovering here, but a must-see is the chapter house. Not only will adults love it but children too, as there are so many weird and wonderful faces to discover amongst the intricate stonework, including The Green Man, surrounded by leaves.
The history of The Green Man reaches way back to ancient times. He is associated with Spring and rebirth and gives the beautiful world of nature a “face” we can relate to. Perhaps the original David Attenborough!
