The Commandery is based in the East Midlands, and centred on the town of Southwell. It was named King Offa, after the ancient King of Mercia, who reigned from 757-796 AD and whose two most significant claims to fame were the introduction of the silver penny and, of course, the building of Offa’s Dyke (784-86).
Our Inaugural Investiture Service as the 12th Commandery in the Grand Bailiwick of England and Wales took place on 3rd August 2008 at the Parish Church of Saint James the Great, Brinsley, in Nottinghamshire, followed by a banquet at the local Eastwood Hall. There were 19 founder members.The area of authority for the Commandery covers the counties of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, although we do have some founder members from Derbyshire and Leicestershire. Since the original venues at Brinsley and Eastwood were situated very close to the Derbyshire border, we moved (in 2010) the operational headquarters to the historic town of Southwell in Nottinghamshire, which is more centrally placed for the remitted area and which has a long history dating back to Saxon times. Southwell Minster, where we now hold our Investiture Services, stands at the heart of this pleasant town, and dates from the 10th century. Southwell was never a monastery but was established from a community of priests who were given land from the then Archbishop of York. It became the mother church of the southern part of the diocese of York, similar to Beverley and Ripon. It became a cathedral on the formation of the Southwell diocese in 1884.
Our banqueting venue, the Saracen's Head Hotel, is also connected with the diocese of York by virtue of the fact that in 1396, Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of York, granted land on the site for the first recorded buildings to be erected. The fine examples of timber framing date from 1463. Many royal visitors have passed through its doors, including King Charles I, who spent his last hours of freedom there during the Civil War, at which time it was called the King’s Arms. The Crown Hotel opposite dates from the 18th century. Southwell is also the home of the Bramley Apple, which is celebrated in one of the stained glass windows of the Minster. The town is easily accessible from the A46 and A1 via Newark in the East, and the M1 to the West.
