Ushaw exhibition featuring Sunderland wedding dresses extended after proving a smash hit

From an original Coco Chanel dress to royal recreations, the latest exhibition at Ushaw is a fascinating foray into a century of wedding fashion.

Featuring more than 70 dresses, the vast majority are the originals worn by North East brides, as well as recreations of some of the world’s most-famous dresses, such as the iconic gowns worn by HRH Catherine, Princess of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer on their big day.

From the make do and mend styles of the war years to the more ostentatious ‘80s, it’s an engaging and evocative way of charting the shift in fashions as the exhibition weaves its way through the historic main house and chapels at Ushaw.

Dozens of dresses on display have been donated by Sunderland brides to collector Kevin Thornhill. Over 40 years, the wedding dress designer from Sunderland has collected 350 gowns - each with their own story to tell.

Those stories are told with each of the dresses as you work your way through the exhibition, from a dress worn by Florence Dawson at her wedding in Park Road Methodist Church, Sunderland, in 1948 and Marie Murchie’s purple two-piece worn at her wedding at Mary Magdalen in Seaham in 1945 (the priest wouldn’t marry her in white as her husband wasn’t Catholic) to Norma Heslop’s 1973 gown which she found in a Jopling’s magazine.

The A Century of Wedding Gowns exhibition has captured the attention of visitors to the former seminary for the Catholic priesthood which is now a visitor attraction, standing proud in the countryside four miles from the centre of Durham.

It’s proved the most-popular exhibition held at Ushaw since it became an attraction, with 5,000 people pouring through the doors since it went on display at the end of March.

So much so, it’s been extended until June 30, including a wedding fashion show on June 28.

Andrew Heard, visitor programme manager at Ushaw, said: “It’s certainly one of our most-successful exhibitions to date and is 100% bringing new visitors through the doors at Ushaw.”

Ushaw closed as a seminary in 2011 due to dwindling numbers of those joining the priesthood and evolved into a visitor attraction. Last year it hit 100,000 visitor numbers and it’s on coarse to exceed that this year.

The exhibition runs alongside a number of others at the site, including The Ushaw Editions featuring contemporary artworks, On The Map featuring significant maps and atlases in Ushaw’s Library collection as well as its permanent exhibitions.

There’s also a whole calendar of other events including Candlelight concerts, classic car shows, a 1940s weekend, flower festival and more.

Andrew said: “Everybody who works and volunteers here wants to share Ushaw and its fascinating history with as many people as possible, and the only way of doing that is by putting exhibitions such as this on. We’re always evolving and improving the way we can tell the story of Ushaw.”

* A Century of Wedding Gowns is running until Sunday, June 30 and is included with Annual Membership and Day Pass. The Wedding Walk fashion show featuring an additional 40 gowns not featured in the exhibition takes place on June 28. Tickets from £6 at Ushaw.org

Ushaw Historic House, Chapels and Gardens

Formerly known as Ushaw College, the site was a seminary for the Catholic priesthood from 1808 until 2011, and is familiar to many North East schools who used its facilities.

Situated four miles from the centre of Durham, its hundreds of acres of grounds house many buildings and chapels which are striking examples of Georgian and Victorian Gothic architecture.

Due to a shortage of vocations, it closed as a seminary, but in 2015 the historic site entered a new chapter in its colourful history and was reborn as Ushaw: Historic House, Chapels and Gardens, a heritage and cultural attraction with gallery space, lecture theatre, cafe, chapels and ornamental gardens to explore.

It stages a number of exhibitions each year, as well as events in its grounds.

The site also has a library housing thousands of rare books, including first editions by Charles Darwin and more. Due to the literary importance of the library, it’s open for guided tours only, which take place twice a month.

Last year, it also launched an on-site B&B for visitors looking to sleep over at an important piece of local history.

Entry

A day pass for Ushaw is £10 for adults, £6 for children and under 5’s go free.

An annual membership, with unlimited access, is £24 for adults, £15 for children and £49 for a family membership.

To encourage local people to use the site, there are concessions for those living in DH7 postcodes, priced £12 for an annual membership and £24.50 for a family.

There’s free parking on site as well as a cafe.