Deep sadness has been expressed about a devastating fire that ripped through parts of a historic former seminary after a suspected arson attack.
The fire at Ushaw House and Gardens, near Durham, broke out in the unoccupied Junior House and spread to a chapel designed by Edward Pugin and listed on Historic England’s At Risk register.
The Junior House, a Gothic Revival building dating back to 1859, has been boarded up since its closure in 1972 and has frequently been targeted by vandals.
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The County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service responded to the incident with five appliances and an aerial ladder platform shortly before midnight last Thursday (July 7).
Picture: Christine Brennan
Firefighters tackled the blaze until 1pm on Friday, but despite their efforts the roof of the Junior House was completely destroyed and the chapel seriously damaged.
Joe O’Donnell, Director of The Victorian Society, expressed "deep sadness" over the fire at the Grade II listed buildings.
Ushaw's commercial director, Jonathon Ward, confirmed that the fire broke out in the former school building, and then spread to the chapel.
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He said; “It's very upsetting. It's suspected to be arson, which is a horrible thing. And if the Chapel is severely damaged that will be a significant loss to us.
“But at the moment we're looking on the positive side. We don’t yet know the full extent of the damages..
“We haven't seen any drone footage yet and (once we have) at that point will be better placed to know but the damage is.”
“The next step really is that we need a conservation specialist and structural engineer to visit to ascertain when and if the buildings are safe to enter.”
Mr Ward said the charity running Ushaw had been looking at plans for the buildings for a "long time".
He said: “We completed a National Lottery Heritage fund investigation into potential uses in 2018. Then Covid hit and the world changed.”
Picture: Christine Brennan
“It’s very much on our agenda to look at future uses - we have no concrete plans at this stage.”
Joe O’Donnell, director of The Victorian Society said: “The Victorian Society is deeply saddened by the recent fire at the great Gothic revival Grade II* Chapel and Grade II Junior House at Ushaw by Edward Pugin.
"Sadly these buildings have been closed for decades and allowed to become derelict.
"Once buildings fall into this state the risk of fires or other disasters dramatically increases. Nationally important buildings like this must be kept properly secured.
"The custodians of Ushaw should now quickly move to secure and restore them, and redouble their efforts to find a new use, which is ultimately what is required to prevent these kinds of incidents.”
CDDFRS group manager Michael Pearson said: “We were called out at 11.55pm on Thursday July 6 and informed the unoccupied area of the college was on fire.
“At the height of the fire we had five fire appliances and one aerial ladder platform on the scene.
“We fought the fire through the night and we left the scene at about 12:30pm the following day."
Mr Pearson said firefighters had managed to prevent the fire from spreading to an adjacent part of the derelict building.
He added: "Because the roof had been destroyed there was the potential of the walls toppling over, making it unsafe for firefighters to enter the building.
The seminary closed in 2011 due to a lack of vocations and has since become a Catholic heritage centre known as Ushaw House and Gardens.
Despite the closure, the former seminary continues to host regular exhibitions and a wide range of events.
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A Durham Police spokesperson said: "Officers are treating a large fire at Ushaw College, near Ushaw Moor, as arson.
"Police were alerted at 12.20am on Friday (July 7) to the fire by colleagues from the fire service.
"Thankfully, nobody was injured in the incident and the fire was extinguished.
"An investigation is now underway to determine the cause of the blaze."
The building is still open to the public.
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