A Tour of Southwell Minster, Part 3

Gothic heads and a neglected stone

Towards the end of the 13th century the Minster decided to build a chapter house. If you’re familiar with the Rule of St Benedict, you will know that the chapter house was where the daily chapter of the Rule was read, along with the readings from the Bible - for more information please see this chapter of the Rule). Southwell was not a monastery but a community of canons, but by this time the concept of the chapter house had spread beyond the Benedictines to all large communities, including cathedrals and large minster churches like this.

It was basically a place where religious and secular business of the minster was conducted, a private meeting place for all the canons. In true Gothic style, it was lavishly decorated.

One of the heads in Southwell’s chapter house, wearing a barbet (the linen band under her chin) and fillet (the linen around her head), typical of the 13th-14th century. The broken nose is iconoclastic damage.