Former Junior Seminary at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw

The former Junior Seminary at St Cuthbert’s College, Ushaw, is a substantial building likely dating to around 1859, probably designed by Edward Welby Pugin. The building is constructed of thin courses of squared sandstone with an ashlar plinth and dressings, and has a roof of graduated Lakeland slate with stone gable copings.

The building comprises several ranges arranged around courtyards. There are three main ranges forming a forecourt, with further ranges behind them enclosing a courtyard, and at the right, three smaller ranges set back, enclosing a second courtyard. The architecture is executed in a Gothic style.

The main range is a single-storey, 11-bay structure. Long side ranges terminate in an 11-bay study place to the left and the Chapel of St. Aloysius to the right. Master’s rooms projecting on the upper storey to the left of the main range are a prominent feature. The central, projecting, gabled entrance bay features low, two-centred arches over double boarded doors, flanked by transomed two-light windows and a large three-light window above. Flanking bays have similar arched heads to three-light transomed windows. An external chimney stack sits between the second and third bays to the right of the entrance. A mansard roof, with three-light dormer windows under steeply-pitched gables containing small lights, completes the design. A string course runs at attic floor level. The left-front study place mirrors this style with two-light windows, while the left return features a central, buttressed external chimney stack. The Master’s rooms, in a tall projection at the left end of the main range, have buttresses, varied windows, and a tall traceried stair window under a steeply-pitched hipped roof with small gabled lights and ridge finials. The right side range incorporates an octagonal stair turret adjacent to the chapel, originally surmounted by a spire. Various chimneys are present, with plinths, offsets, and octagonal coped shafts.

The interior features an open-arched entrance hall, now fitted with a screen, and retains original doors throughout. The former refectory, later converted into a gymnasium, has an arch-braced king-post roof. Dormitories incorporate cusped wood brackets supporting roof beams, although the original panelled wood dormitory partitions have been removed.

To the west of the main building stands a ball-game wall constructed of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. This high wall, with side buttresses and steeply pitched copings, is accompanied by asphalt areas on each side, which served as courts for the game "Keeping Up."