Latest: Southwell Minster Could Close in 2027 as 900 Year Old Cathedral Runs Out of Money

When it rains at Southwell Minster, water falls onto the congregation. The Very Rev. Stephen Evans, the dean, told his congregation a fortnight ago that things were pretty grim, and that if something major does not change, the 900-year-old cathedral will run out of money in 2027.

Rain pouring through a damaged roof and exterior lighting that no longer works are, he said, symptoms of a financial crisis that has brought the cathedral to the most critical point in its history.

Southwell Minster, the cathedral of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, will close next year if millions of pounds cannot be raised for operating deficits and emergency repairs, The Living Church reports. Unless the cathedral secures £3.3 million over the next three years, the cathedral chapter will need to disband and the building would likely be shuttered by the diocese.

Rain on the Congregation and Water on Ancient Carvings

"A fortnight or so ago I met with the congregation and explained that things were pretty grim, that if something major doesn't change then in 2027 we will run out of money," Evans told The Times, as quoted by The Living Church. He did not soften the warning, and he did not blame the people sitting in the pews.

The building problems reach across the minster's sprawling campus, The Living Church reports. The houses intended for the cathedral's canons are unfit for occupancy. Electrical problems mean the paths around the building cannot be lit at night, so they become dangerous after dark.

The world-famous Leaves of Southwell, a series of 13th-century carvings in the chapter house, are threatened by water damage from the leaking roof. The Sun reports that water now falls onto the congregation every time it rains, and that the carvings, described as the finest in Europe, are at risk because of water.

"We have had to disconnect most of the lighting around the cathedral, which means our pathways are now not lit at night so they become dangerous," Evans told The Times, as quoted by The Sun. The cathedral will have to spend nearly £20,000 this week to remove a single tree, The Sun reports, with other trees across the estate likely needing work too.

"Just making the estate safe is a huge task," the dean added, as quoted by The Sun. Catching up on all the work is estimated to cost at least £20 million, The Living Church reports, and the dean said £8 million was needed for imediate repairs alone.

Accounts Late and an Estate Left Unrepaired

The cathedral's finances have also been poorly managed, partly because of repeated turnover in its administrative staff, The Living Church reports. The 2024 accounts were finalised more than five months late, and the 2025 accounts are still being completed, with recent discoveries by auditors underlining the severity of the problems.

Evans was clear that the trouble was not theft. "It's not that people have been lining their own pockets or taking money out of the cathedral. There have been insufficient monies coming in to meet outgoings," Evans told The Church Times, as quoted by The Living Church.

"One way they have tried to manage that has been to do no work on the cathedral estate. So we have ended up with an estate with dangerous and non-compliant buildings," Evans said.

Years of putting off repairs did not save the cathedral money. They left it with a repair bill it cannot now pay.

Southwell Is Not Alone Among English Cathedrals

"There are about a dozen cathedrals in not dissimilar situations to Southwell," Evans said, as quoted by both The Living Church and The Sun. "I think we just happen to be the first that reached the point of no return."

Peterborough Cathedral warned last year that a cash crisis would force it to close several days a week, but an emergency funds appeal staved off the danger, The Living Church reports. St. David's Cathedral in Wales announced in June that it could be insolvent in two years if steps are not taken to drastically reduce expenses.

Cathedral worship attendance has risen across the Church of England for five years running, The Living Church reports. Yet a recent report by Theos found that 80 percent of the church's 42 cathedrals operate at a structural deficit.

Rising maintenance costs were compounded by a March 2026 law that dropped an exemption from the United Kingdom's 20 percent VAT tax for historic places of worship, The Living Church reports. Southwell, based in a town of 7,500 people, has still not seen tourist visits rise to pre-pandemic levels.

Historic cathedrals in England receive no direct government support, The Living Church reports. Earlier this year, Southwell applied to the government-financed Places of Worship Renewal Fund for £220,000, but the application was rejected.

Talks With the Charity Commission and a Plea for Help

Evans said the cathedral is in active talks with the Charity Commission and the Church Commissioners, who manage the Church of England's endowments, about plans for the crisis, The Living Church reports. They plan to appeal to Historic England and the National Heritage Lottery Fund for emergency assistance.

"There has to be a change within government policy towards these enormous historic buildings that are the keystones of community life, not just for a town or a city or a village, but for an entire county, and further afield," Evans said, as quoted by The Living Church.

The Sun reports that, should the minster run out of money, it would be the first time in the Church of England's history that a cathedral has had to close. The building was constructed in 1108 and was designated a cathedral in 1884.

Readers can follow the wider Church of England money story in a report warning the Church of England faces financial disaster and King Charles inaugurating the Church of England General Synod on November 17, alongside Blackburn churches preparing for growth and the Church of Scotland day of prayer Light in the Darkness.

The rain will come again to Southwell, and the roof will leak again, and the question hanging over the minster is no longer whether the building can survive another winter. It is whether the people who love it, in Nottinghamshire and beyond, will answer the dean's warning in time, and what a town of 7,500 people is meant to do with a cathedral built for a county.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.