| Ushaw: Historic House, Chapels & Gardens | |
|---|---|
| Formerly Ushaw College | |
 Main Building | |
  Ushaw: Historic House, Chapels & Gardens | |
| 54°47′17″N1°39′40″W / 54.78818°N 1.66116°W /54.78818; -1.66116 | |
| Location | Ushaw Moor,Durham |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Former name(s) | English College, Douai |
| Status | Theological College |
| Founded | September 29, 1568 (1568-09-29) |
| Founder | Bishop William Gibson |
| Dedication | Saint Cuthbert |
| Consecrated | September 1808 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Closed as college, open as visitor attraction |
| Heritage designation | Grade II with parts Grade II* and St Michael's Chapel Grade I[1] |
| Designated | 17 January 1967 (main block and college chapel; other parts, including St Michael's Chapel, added 24 June 1987) |
| Architect(s) | James Taylor Dunn andHansom |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 23 April 1804 |
| Completed | 2 August 1808 |
| Closed | June 2011 |
| Administration | |
| Province | Liverpool |
| Diocese | Hexham and Newcastle |
| Episcopal area | Sunderland and East Durham |
| Deanery | St Cuthbert |
| Parish | St Joseph's, Ushaw Moor |
 | |
Ushaw College (formallySt Cuthbert's College, Ushaw) is a formerRoman Catholicseminary, which until 2011 was also alicensed hall of residence ofDurham University near the village ofUshaw Moor, County Durham, England, which is now a heritage and cultural tourist attraction. The college is known for its Georgian and Victorian Gothic architecture and listed nineteenth-century chapels. The college now hosts a programme of art exhibitions, music and theatre events, alongside tearooms and a café.
It was founded in 1808 by scholars from theEnglish College, Douai, who had fled France after theFrench Revolution. Ushaw College was affiliated with Durham University from 1968 and was the principalRoman Catholicseminary for the training of Catholic priests in the north of England.
In 2011, the seminary closed, due to the shortage of vocations. It reopened as a visitor attraction, marketed asUshaw: Historic House, Chapels & Gardens in late 2014 and, as of 2023, receives over 100,000 visitors a year. TheCounty Durham Music Service andDurham University Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring are based at the college and buildings at the college are also used byDurham University Business School.[2][3]
TheEnglish College, Douai was founded in 1568 but was forced to leave France in 1795 following theFrench Revolution.Part of the college settled temporarily atCrook Hall nearLanchester, northwest of Durham. In 1804Bishop William Gibson began to build atUshaw Moor, four miles west ofDurham. These buildings, designed by James Taylor, were opened asSt Cuthbert's College in 1808. There was a steady expansion during the nineteenth century with new buildings put up to cater for the expanding number of clerical and secular students. In 1847, the newly built chapel, designed byAugustus Welby Northmore Pugin was opened.[4] This was followed by the Big Library and Exhibition Hall designed byJoseph Hansom, 1849–1851.[5] The Junior House, designed byPeter Paul Pugin, was added in 1859. St Cuthbert's Chapel, designed byDunn and Hansom, was opened in 1884, replacing AWN Pugin's 1847 chapel which the seminary had outgrown. The Refectory was designed and built byE. W. Pugin. The final development came in the early 1960s with the opening of a new East wing, providing additional classrooms and single bedrooms for 75 students. The main college buildings areGrade II listed, the College Chapel is Grade II* and the Chapel of St Michael is Grade I.
Although independent, Ushaw College had a close working relationship withDurham University. The college became a Licensed Hall of Residence of theUniversity of Durham in 1968. It was independent of the university but offered courses validated by the university, and both Church and lay students studied at the college. The Junior House closed in 1972, its younger students being transferred toSt Joseph's College, Up Holland in Lancashire.
In 2002, the college rejected a report from the Roman Catholic hierarchy that it should merge withSt Mary's College, Oscott, near Birmingham.[6] However, in October 2010 it was announced that the college would close in 2011 due to the shortage of vocations in the Roman Catholic Church, and that the site might be sold.[7] Following a detailed feasibility study by the college's Trustees andDurham University, and with support from Durham County Council and English Heritage,[8][9] it was announced in January 2012 thatDurham Business School would temporarily relocate to the college during rebuilding of the school's buildings in Durham. This was seen as the first step in a long-term education-based vision for the site.[10]
The university also agreed to catalogue and archive the Ushaw library and inventory the other collections to ensure their preservation and specialist conservation,[11] with a view to creating a proposed Ushaw Centre for Catholic Scholarship and Heritage.[8] In March 2019, an uncatalogued early charter of King John was found in the library manuscript collection.[12]
In 2017, Durham University announced plans to develop an international residential research library at Ushaw College, with the aim of attracting scholars from around the world to work on the collections of Ushaw, Durham University andDurham Cathedral. The university has also confirmed that it has extended the agreement to lease the east wing of the college (used by the Business School) to 2027.[13] The college is also used for numerous musical events and for the Ushaw Lecture Series, organised by the university's Centre for Catholic Studies.[14]
In 2018, Durham University's Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) moved into the east wing of the college, previously used by the Business School.[3]
The Junior Seminary Chapel of St Aloysius and adjacent common room buildings were badly damaged in a suspected arson attack in July 2023.[15]
The collegearmorial bearings are "Per pale dexter Argent a Cross Gules on a Canton Azure a Cross of St Cuthbert proper sinister impaling Allen Argent three Rabbits couchant in pale Sable."
Various emblems on shield represent the college's history and foundation, for example:-
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