Deep sadness has been expressed about a devastating fire that ripped through parts of a historic former seminary after a suspected arson attack at Ushaw House, reports The Northern Echo.
image for illustration: Former Junior Seminary Chapel of St Aloysius at St. Cuthbert’s College, UshawAlexD, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
… The Junior House….has frequently been targeted by vandals…
The Northern Echo writes:
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….
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.
Joe O’Donnell… said:… “….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.”
