A viral video has brought renewed attention to a historic site in County Durham, described as "one of the Catholic church's best-kept secrets."
Daniel Wilson, an architectural history student behind the Great British Architecture social media pages, shared a social media post from Ushaw Historic House, Chapels & Gardens, near the city of Durham, with his more than 484,000 followers.
His Great British Architecture pages highlight historic buildings across the UK, including overlooked religious and cultural landmarks such as Ushaw House.
Wilson called Ushaw House “a hidden treasure in the North of England”, prompting locals and former students to recall the former Catholic seminary.
“Ushaw is certainly one of the best hidden gems in the North of England, with so much history and architecture packed into one single site,” he said.
A commenter said: “Great Catholic heritage. I was a student there from 1984-90 when there were over 180 students studying for the priesthood there.”
The post also highlighted Ushaw’s proximity to Durham Cathedral and Castle, together forming a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ushaw House, formerly Ushaw College or St Cuthbert’s College, was founded in 1808 by scholars from the English College in Douai who fled France after the French Revolution.
The college became affiliated with Durham University in 1968 and served as the principal Roman Catholic seminary for training priests in the north of England until its closure in 2011.
Commenters were quick to mention notable former students, including anti-modernist Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, who became Pope Pius X’s secretary of state.
After the seminary closed in 2011, Ushaw Historic House was opened to the public in 2014. (Image: Durham Cathedral)
Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon and former BBC Radio Newcastle presenter Alfie Joey are also among those who studied at Ushaw.
By the time it closed, only around 30 men a year were training for the priesthood in buildings designed for more than 300.
Ushaw Historic House reopened to visitors in 2014, now operating as an arts and heritage site.
The 550-acre estate contains 200,000 square feet of buildings, most of them listed.
Visitors can explore 14 chapels, a library, art, vestments and relics from around the world.
St Cuthbert’s Chapel is described by Wilson as the “spiritual and architectural jewel in the crown." Augustus Pugin, the man behind the interior of the Houses of Parliament, designed the chapel in the mid 19th century.
The chapel was enlarged and rebuilt in the late 19th century, but preserved Pugin's furnishings and stained-glass windows.
(Image: Supplied)
Ushaw’s Gothic Revival library holds 50,000 books, including Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica and a first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.
Historian Eamon Duffy previously described Ushaw's collections as "unquestionably the most important Catholic library in Britain."
Ushaw also holds England’s largest collection of art by the Nazarenes, a German group of romantic artists who were based in Rome.
The collection includes white marble statues by Karl Hoffmann of Wiesbaden such as 1851's Our Lady of Help, also known as Our Lady of Ushaw.
One commenter recalled visiting the site: “I've been to a Traditional Latin Mass here, and toured it on one of the glorious June summer days. Heavenly.”
Ushaw's Junior Seminary Chapel of St Aloysius and adjacent common room buildings were badly damaged in an arson attack in July 2023, receiving £400k from Historic England for emergency repairs.
While its days of training priests are now part of the estate's extensive history, Ushaw Historic House has found a new life as a cultural and heritage attraction.
As visitors continue to uncover its chapels, libraries and treasures, its reputation as a hidden gem appears to be spreading well beyond County Durham.