Ushaw College (formally St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw), a former Catholic seminary, 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.
It was founded in 1808 by scholars from the English College, Douai, who had fled France after the French Revolution. Ushaw College was affiliated with Durham University from 1968 and was the principal Roman Catholic seminary for the training of Catholic priests in the north of England.
In 2011 the seminary closed, due to the shortage of vocations. Durham university agreed to catalogue and archive the Ushaw library and inventory the other collections to ensure their preservation and specialist conservation.