English Catholic Heritage for Sale?

Ushaw College in the north of England is to close, according to this Catholic Herald article, and a committee needs to figure out what to do with its buildings, lands, and the treasures the College contains:

"The college owns more than 40,000 books, medieval manuscripts, papers, the archive of the English College at Lisbon from 1628 to 1971 and an extensive collection of books on and by Blessed John Henry Newman."

The College will close in June this year:

"Ushaw was originally established as Douai College in the Spanish Netherlands, now France, in 1568 to train English priests and educate laymen during the reign of Elizabeth I.

"It relocated to County Durham just over 200 years ago, in 1808, after staff and students were imprisoned during the Napoleonic wars.

"The college trained hundreds of seminarians decades ago but now has only 26 students in formation."

Those 26 students will continue their studies at one of the other seminaries in England. The first chapel dedicated to St. Cuthbert was designed by A.W. Pugin and his descendants continued to work at the College. More here and here, from the College's website. Alumni include Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman, Cardinal Merry del Val, and the poet Francis Thompson. Sad. I certainly hope something will be done to save these buildings from destruction and desecration.