Ushaw College - some reflections by Canon John Twisleton
A great discovery just outside Durham - Ushaw College! It’s a relatively new tourist attraction in the north east with entry fee a modest £3. Here I am with Brian my brother-in-law inside the main Chapel first completed by Augustus Pugin in 1847 then enlarged in 1879 to fit 350 to serve the burgeoning Roman Catholic community and its need for priests. Since 2011 Ushaw has been without trainee priests but it remains open for worship and for visitors like ourselves. I’ve never seen a thumbscrew before! Here in a display cabinet at Ushaw College in County Durham is a reminder of cruelty associated with the demands of religion in this case my own religion, the Church of England. From 1559 until almost 1800 it was treason for a Roman Catholic priest to enter the country. The forfeit beyond thumbscrew torture was execution by being hung, cut down whilst still alive, your intestines dawn out and your body cut into quarters. Ushaw College, Durham in the 1950s seen from the air. Th