History of Ushaw Seminary
Briefly the abandoned Ushaw College, a former Catholic seminary was founded in 1808 by scholars from English College, Douai, who had fled France after that college had been closed during the French Revolution. Ushaw College had been affiliated with the University of Durham since 1968. The College became a Licensed Hall of Residence of the University 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 to St Joseph’s College, Upholland in Lancashire. Ushaw was the principal Roman Catholic seminary in the north of England for the training of Catholic priests; finally closing in 2011 due to the shortage of vocations. A more detailed history can be found in my original report from November 2013.
Our Visit
Visited with Jamie, having missed the pool on my previous two trips here, a revisit was in order. In hindsight, I can’t believe I’d missed the entry point but still happy to eventually see it. Quite well preserved with no graffiti at the time and only natural deterioration and weather damage the pool looked pretty good. The gym was smaller than expected but still retained a few photogenic items 🙂
If you’ve made it this far… thanks for reading / checking out the pictures. Leave me a comment below or hit the like button to let me know you’ve enjoyed the shots and to encourage me to keep posting more 🙂
Limited Edition prints and Canvases, as well as regular prints, are available for all of the images above on request and visit the store for more prints and products.
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