A 200 year-long chapter of North-East history came to an end yesterday, as Ushaw College’s Catholic seminary closed for the final time. Mark Tallentire reports.

USHAW College was founded on a cruelly-exposed hillside three miles west of Durham City in 1808, by Catholic leaders fleeing persecution in revolutionary France.

Young men have been prepared for the priesthood in its St Cuthbert’s Seminary ever since.

But yesterday, that tradition came to an end: a victim of falling rolls, rising maintenance costs and the recession.

In reality, the writing had probably been on the wall since at least October, last year, when consultation on closure began.

“It was a sad day,” reflects Monsignor John Marsland, the college’s president. “I was very sad. I could see all the good things that were going on.”

Despite having fewer than 30 students, the seminary was doing well, Mgr Marsland insists.

“From all the feedback we got from bishops and students, they were very happy with the style and content of the training we were giving here. And there was a good spirit among the students and the staff.”

Also, the college was branching out.

Its online theology course had 200 students, its deacon training programme had grown from three candidates to 30 in only two years and its stunning Gothic revival-style buildings were popular for meetings and conferences.

“We felt we had a very good product in terms of the conference centre,” Mgr Marsland says.

“There was a lot of potential for development in that field. There was all this optimism about how things were going – and to see that cancelled was a shock.

“On the other hand, being realistic, I could understand why the bishops came to that conclusion – because when you looked at the finances, you could see the college couldn’t go on just losing money. At some point or other, you run out.

“I thought maybe we had a bit more time.

The vision was that the conference centre would expand sufficiently to reduce the deficit.

“We didn’t think it would ever completely subsidise the seminary, but we thought it would take a chunk – and we were looking for other things.”

So could Ushaw have been saved?

“Eventually, yes,” Mgr Marsland says, before adding: “Maybe. But it wasn’t certain. We couldn’t say to the bishops, ‘if you just give us another year, everything will be all right’. We could hope that maybe eventually a solution could be found – but not in the timescale.”

Hence, the conference business closed in December and the seminary has been saying a long goodbye for several weeks.

Its final ordination was on June 11, one thanksgiving service with friends from other churches was addressed by Tom Wright, the last Anglican Bishop of Durham, on June 20, another attended by the northern Catholic bishops and former staff and students followed the day after, and teaching finished on June 22.

Most of its students and some staff will move to Oscott College, in Birmingham. Others are bound for Rome.

BUT Mgr Marsland is not leaving yet. He’s staying to negotiate the next chapter in the college’s story.

The former international chaplain of the Young Christian Workers’ Movement arrived at Ushaw, in September 2008, during its bicentenary.

Back then, Ushaw was all smiles. There was a medieval festival, flower festival, charity walk, mass led by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor – then leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, concerts and more.

Mgr Marsland recalls being pleasantly surprised.

“It was a very active, thriving community,”

he says.

But most of the problems which finally closed the college were already there; and the economic downturn, particularly with its effect on the conference business, probably tipped the balance.

“The economic climate hit very hard,” says Peter Seed, the college’s director of estates and facilities.

If anyone knows Ushaw, it’s him. He’s the fifth generation of his family to work there – dating back to 1850. The ties run deep. But he’s realistic.

“It (the closure) was a very difficult decision and a very sad decision,” he says, “But I think it’s a reasonable decision.”

Mr Seed, too, is staying on.

“There’s still a very large estate, and a very complex set of buildings. It remains a challenge,”

he says.

Five hundred acres to be precise; and grade I, II and II*-listed buildings of stunning design.

Ushaw traces its roots to Douai, in north-east France, where its seminary was founded in 1568. Its expelled leaders arrived in County Durham, in 1794, staying briefly in Crookhall, near Consett, and Pontop Hall, near Dipton.

Ushaw College was purpose-built between 1804 and 1808: a mark of the new-found confidence of Catholics in England, following the end of centuries of persecution.

Its library boasts 75,000 books, some dating from the Middle Ages, the archive of the English College at Lisbon from 1628 to 1971 and an extensive collection of books on and by Cardinal John Newman, who was recently beatified.

The St Cuthbert’s Chapel, capable of holding 350 people, was built in the 1870s, replacing an earlier version designed by AW Pugin.

At the college’s peak, in 1950, there were 300 adult students and 150 children. It ran a grammar school until 1972.

SADLY, all that is in the past. It seems the college’s future lies with Durham University.

Last month, a plan emerged to turn part of it into an extension of the university’s world-leading Centre for Catholic Studies, and renamed The International Centre for Advanced Catholic Studies.

The university wants to take responsibility for the library; and talks are continuing, but nothing is removed.

Meanwhile, a feasibility study to identify future uses for the rest of the college is expected to report later this year.

Mgr Marsland says he’s excited by the university’s proposal. “I would be delighted if it came off, because it guarantees the care of the cultural heritage and assures the continuation of the Catholic educational purpose of the building.

“I’m cautious, because we’ve had lots of good ideas in the past that haven’t come to fruition.

But, I’m hopeful this will be the one.”

Mr Seed agrees: “I’m quite hopeful. We have to await proper study and rational consideration.

But if all that works and stacks up, then we might have the start of a new future for Ushaw.”