THE TREASURES of one of the North-East’s hidden gems are revealed in a new book published today (Thursday, March 19).

Treasures of Ushaw College presents more than 50 highlights from the collections of the former Catholic seminary on the outskirts of Durham City.

The book - beautifully illustrated and with texts by leading experts – also gives an account of the architectural development of the site and an outline of the college’s history penned by historian and academic Eamon Duffy. A foreword is provided by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

Ushaw College was founded more than 200 years ago to educate students for the Catholic priesthood.

In addition to its splendid architecture, the college’s library and archival holdings contain a wealth of rare and unique items that have only recently started to come to light.

These include St Cuthbert’s ring, Thomas Cranmer’s personal copy of two Lutheran works and a first edition of the Cabinet du Roi, a magnificent volume published to glorify the reign of King Louis XIV of France.

The book is edited by Dr James Kelly, the St Cuthbert’s Society Fellow in the History of Early Modern English Catholicism at Durham University.

He said: “That such a wealth of material has been housed only a couple of miles from Durham’s famous cathedral, has largely remained a secret to all but the few who trained and worked at the college during its life as a Catholic seminary.

“With the closure of the seminary in 2011, the time was opportune to highlight just how important and surprising the site remains on a number of levels.”

Treasures of Ushaw College published by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers is £20 from Durham University’s Palace Green Library, Ushaw College, Amazon and Durham University’s official online shop http://shop.dur.ac.uk/index.php.