King William's College at Castletown was almost totally destroyed by fire in the early hours of Sunday 14 January 1844; the blaze, whose origin was never discovered, broke out in the school-room and spread before engines summoned from Douglas could arrive. The college's valuable library was lost, including a rare collection of Bibles in more than fifty languages and unique manuscripts on Manx ecclesiastical history, along with military models and plans. The college was rebuilt to a somewhat different design that same year.