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Image:Wearmouth_Bridge_001.jpg|The first Wearmouth Bridge, circa 1800
Image:Wearmouth_Bridge_001.jpg|The first Wearmouth Bridge, circa 1800
Image:Sunderland_marina2.jpg| Sunderland Marina, 2005
Image:Sunderland_marina2.jpg| Sunderland Marina, 2005

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Revision as of 21:01, 12 November 2006

For other uses, see Sunderland (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox England place with map Sunderland is a city and port in the City of Sunderland metropolitan borough, in the county of Tyne and Wear in North East England.

Sunderland forms part of the larger City of Sunderland which also includes the neighbouring towns of Washington, Hetton-le-Hole and Houghton-le-Spring and is the largest city, by measures of population and area, between Leeds and Edinburgh.

The urban sub-area of Sunderland was recorded in the 2006 census as 177,739 [1], whilst the population of the larger City and Metropolitan Borough of Sunderland was 282,000. The 2006 population estimate for the city metropolitian borough is 284,000.

A person born in Sunderland is sometimes called a Mackem, thought to be derived from the term "Mak'em and Tak'em" used by Tyneside shipbuilders to describe their counterparts on the River Wear in Sunderland. The term may refer to the shipbuilders making the ships (Mackem) and then taking them (Tackem) along the river to be fitted out. Another theory is that the term is meant to be derogatory, in that Sunderland built, on the whole, workaday ships of relatively low tonnage. The term appears to have come into use in the late 1980s and is to be included in the Oxford English Dictionary.


Status

Sunderland was created a municipal borough of County Durham in 1835. Under the Local Government Act 1888, it was given further status as a county borough with independence from county council control. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the county borough was abolished and its area combined with that of other districts to form the Metropolitan Borough of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear. This new county was in turn abolished in 1984, much to popular approval, and Sunderland reverted back to being a borough. The borough was granted City status after winning a competition in 1992 to celebrate the Queen's 40th year on the throne.

Sunderland - taken from Tunstall Hill, August 1994

History

The area is part of the Anglican Diocese of Durham. It has been in the Roman Catholic diocese of Hexham and Newcastle since the Catholic hierarchy was restored in 1850.

Located at the mouth of the River Wear, the name "Sunderland" is reputed to come from Soender-land: "parted-land" (soender/sunder being the Anglo-Saxon infinitive, meaning "to part").

Wearmouth-Jarrow Priory

Main article: Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory

In 674, King Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted a large tract of land to Benedict Biscop to set up the monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow. As a result, the north side of the river became "Monkwearmouth", and the south, still under the authority of the Bishop of Durham, was called "Bishopwearmouth", both of which names are used to this day, and so Wearmouth was cut asunder by the river, and politics.

Biscop imported glassmakers from France who established a workshop at the Monkwearmouth site, re-establishing glassmaking in Britain. This event is commemorated by the National Glass Centre which stands on a nearby site on the river Wear. The monastery quickly became associated with the Venerable Bede, Britain's first historian and first known prose writer.

17th and 18th centuries

Prior to the English Civil War in 1642, the bestowing of the rights to the East of England coal trade upon neighbouring Newcastle by King Charles I created resentment between Newcastle and Sunderland. This history has contributed to a lasting civic enmity between Newcastle and Sunderland, most evident in the intense football rivalry between Sunderland and Newcastle United - one of the longest lasting and fiercest rivalries in English football.

In 1719 the separate parish of Sunderland was carved from the densely populated east end of Bishopwearmouth, to serve the port.

19th century

Local government was divided between the three churches (Holy Trinity, Sunderland, St. Michael's, Bishopwearmouth, and St. Peter's, Monkwearmouth) and when cholera broke out in 1830 the "select vestrymen", as the church councilmen were called, showed themselves completely unable to understand and cope with the epidemic.

Demands for democracy and organised town government saw the Borough of Sunderland created in 1836, although impatient citizens elected Andrew White to be Mayor in December 1835.

The current Wearmouth Bridge - constructed in 1929

Sunderland developed on plateaux high above the river, and so never suffered from the problem of allowing people to cross the river without interrupting the passage of high masted vessels. The Wearmouth Bridge was built in 1796, at the instigation of Rowland Burdon, the MP, and is described by Nikolaus Pevsner, the recognised authority, as being of superb elegance. It was the second iron bridge built after the famous span at Ironbridge itself, but over twice as long and only three-quarters the weight. Indeed, at the time of building, it was the biggest single span bridge in the world. Further up the river, another bridge, the Queen Alexandra Bridge, was built in 1910, linking the areas of Pallion and Southwick.

Shipbuilding

Once famously hailed as the "Greatest Shipbuilding Town in the World", ships were built on the Wear from at least 1346 onwards and by the mid-eighteenth century Sunderland was probably the chief ship-building town in the country. The Port of Sunderland was significantly expanded in the 1850s with the construction of Hudson Dock to designs by River Wear Commissioner's Engineer John Murray, with consultancy by Robert Stephenson [2]. One famous vessel was the ‘wonderful’ Torrens, the clipper in which Joseph Conrad sailed, and on which he began his first novel. As Basil Lubbock states, Torrens was one of the most successful ships ever built, besides being one of the fastest, and for many years was the favourite passenger ship to Adelaide. She was one of the most famous ships of her time and can claim to be the finest ship ever launched from a Sunderland yard. She was built in ten months by James Laing at their Deptford yard on the Wear in 1875. Between 1939 and 1945 the Wear yards launched 245 merchant ships totalling 1.5 million tons, a quarter of the merchant tonnage produced in the UK at this period.

Victoria Hall Disaster

The Victoria Hall was a large concert hall on Toward Road facing onto Mowbray Park. In June 1883 a children's variety show was presented for the families of mine and shipyard workers. The number of children admitted exceeded the capacity of the auditorium and to try and control access the theatre manager wedged shut one of the double doors that was the sole access to the auditorium. At the end of the performance it was announced that tickets holders would be able to collect a prize on their way out. This triggered a rush for the doors that had been wedged shut soon creating a lethal press of bodies. 183 children died and in some cases entire families. Newspaper reports triggered a mood of national outrage and the resulting enquiry recommended that public venues be fitted with a minimum number of outward opening emergency exits, which led to the invention of 'push bar' emergency doors, and this law still remains in full force to this day. A public subscription raised funds for a memorial statue that was restored and relocated in 2002, now standing in the revamped Mowbray Park. The Victoria Hall remained in use until the Second World War when it was destroyed by a bombing raid.

20th century to present

Next to the North Sea, Sunderland was traditionally a major centre of the shipbuilding and coal mining industries, although the last shipyard closed in 1988 and the last coal mine in 1994. The site of the last coal mine is now occupied by the Stadium of Light, the home ground of football club Sunderland A.F.C.

Vaux Breweries was established in the town centre in the 1880s and for 110 years was a major employer. Following a series of consolidations in the British Brewing Industry, however, the brewery was finally closed in July 1999. Vaux in Sunderland and Wards in Sheffield had been part of the Vaux Group, but with the closure of both breweries it was re-branded The Swallow Group, concentrating on the hotel side of the business. This was subject to a successful take-over by Whitbread PLC in the autumn of 2000.

As the traditional industries have declined, electronics, chemicals, and paper manufacture have replaced them. Some of these new industries, as well as the Nissan car plant, and the nearby North East Aircraft Museum are in Washington, which has more space to allow purpose built factories.

The service sector has countered the decline in heavy industry, and the town is home to many customer service telephone call centres, the quality of which means they have avoided the recent trend towards outsourcing overseas.

Commencing in 1990 the banks of the Wear experienced a massive physical regeneration with the creation of housing, retail parks and business centres on former shipbuilding sites. Alongside the creation of the National Glass Centre the University of Sunderland has also created a new campus on the St. Peter's site. The clearance of the Vaux Brewery site on the North East fringe of the City Centre has created a further opportunity for new development in the city centre.

Like many cities, Sunderland comprises a number of areas with their own distinct histories, e.g: Fulwell, Monkwearmouth, Roker, and Southwick on the northern side of the Wear, and Bishopwearmouth and Hendon to the south.

The town was the one of the most heavily bombed areas in England during World War II. As a result, much of the town centre was rebuilt in an undistinguished concrete utility style. However, many fine old buildings remain. Religious buildings include Holy Trinity built in 1719 for an independent Sunderland, St. Michaels's Church, built as Bishopwearmouth Parish Church and now known as Sunderland Minster and St. Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, part of which dates from AD 674, and was the original monastery. St. Andrew's Roker, so-called "Cathedral of the Arts and Crafts Movement", contains work by William Morris, Ernest Gimson and Eric Gill.

Current Social and Economic Development

As with most post-industrial towns in the North of England, Sunderland continues to suffer from multi-generational long term unemployment. As a result the linked social factors of crime, poor health and teenage pregnancy are high in certain wards of the city. Sunderland is also victim to a degree of population exodus resulting in an ageing population. Sunderland has also suffered with the regional economic strategy promoting nearby Newcastle and Gateshead as services and leisure centres leading higher income employees to reside outside of the Sunderland area.

In the past ten years, however, Sunderland's prospects have certainly improved. In addition to the giant Nissan factory, new service industries have moved in, creating thousands of jobs. Doxford International Business Park, in the south west of the city, has attracted a host of national and international companies such as Nike, EDF Energy, Barclays, Arriva, Leighton Group, T-Mobile and Northern Rock. The former shipyard areas along the River Wear have also been transformed, with several high-profile developments close to the watery artery of the city.

St. Peter's Campus of the University of Sunderland; North Haven, an executive housing and marina development on the former North Dock at Roker; the National Glass Centre, by St. Peter's Church; the Stadium of Light the 49,000-capacity home of Sunderland A.F.C.; Hylton Riverside Retail Park, a large shopping outlet centre at Castletown.

Sunderland Corporation's massive post-war housing estate developments, such as Farringdon, Pennywell, Grindon, Hylton Red House, Hylton Castle, Thorney Close and Town End Farm, together with earlier developments, have all passed into the ownership of Sunderland Housing Group, a private company and a Registered Social Landlord. Since the housing stock transfer in 2000 there have been considerable improvements to the quality of social housing in the city. The tower blocks at Monkwearmouth, Gilley Law, Hendon and the East End have been transformed and the vast estates are also improving although the plans have not met with universal praise.

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File:CNV00036.JPG
The Penshaw Monument

The central business district of Sunderland has also been subject to a recent flurry of redevelopment and improvement. The Bridges shopping centre was extended towards Crowtree Road and the former Central Bus Station, attracting new stores such as Debenhams, Ottakar's (now Waterstones), H&M, HMV, TK Maxx, Qube and USC. It reopened, twice the size, in 2002.

The Sunderland Empire reopened in December 2004 following a major redevelopment allowing it to stage West End shows such as Starlight Express and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The Empire is the only theatre between Leeds and Glasgow large enough to accommodate such shows. In 2005, after several years with no cinema, a Cineworld multiplex opened in the new River Quarter, an entertainment complex towards the east of the City Centre. The previous ABC Cinema, situated on the corner of Park Lane and Holmeside, had been derelict for a number of years until it reopened late in 2005 as The Point, an upmarket venue comprising three bars and the Union nightclub.

Transport

Sunderland station is served by Northern Rail services between Newcastle and Middlesbrough, and since 2002, the Tyne and Wear Metro system between Newcastle and South Hylton.

A multi-million pound transport interchange at Park Lane was opened in May 1999. It is the busiest bus and coach station in Britain after Victoria Coach Station in Central London, and has won several awards for innovative design. A new Metro station was built underneath the bus concourse to provide a direct interchange as part of the extension to South Hylton in 2002.

Grand Central Railway has announced plans to operate a direct service between Sunderland and King's Cross railway station in London. The service will begin in December 2006 with six departures daily each way.

Other facts

  • Sunderland used to be known as 'Sunderland-near-the-Sea'.
  • One of Sunderland's attractions is Penshaw Monument, located on a hill in farmland about 10 km west of the city centre.
  • Each year, the city hosts the International Airshow. It takes place primarily along the sea front at Roker and Seaburn, and is attended by over 1.2 million people annually. It is the largest free airshow in Europe.
  • Also on the sea front, the annual Sunderland illuminations were a local attraction, although this event no longer features.
The Winter Gardens, Sunderland, from Mowbray Park
  • The new City Library Arts Centre, on Fawcett Street, also houses the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art.
  • Sunderland was the first place in Great Britain to be subject to a cholera out-break. From here it spread to the other major ports and industrial towns, beginning the epidemic of the mid 1800's.
  • Lewis Carroll was also a visitor to the Rectory of Holy Trinity Church, Southwick; then a township independent of Sunderland.
  • The Manchester painter, L S Lowry, was a frequent visitor, staying in the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland. Most of his paintings of seacapes and shipbuilding are based on Wearside scenes.
  • Sid James died on stage at the Sunderland Empire.
  • Although Sunderland has a strikingly low percentage of residents of Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) background at less than 1%, the British National Party nevertheless gained over 14% of the votes in the 2003 local authority elections, and in one ward just under 30%.
  • Sunderland was named in the shortlist of the top seven "intelligent cities" in the world for the use of Information Technology, in both 2004 and 2005. The city was also included in the top eighteen list in 2002 and 2003. [3]
  • At the 2001 census, 114 people of Jewish faith were recorded as living in Sunderland, a vanishingly small percentage. There was no Jewish community before 1750, though subsequently a number of Jewish merchants from across the UK and Europe settled in Sunderland, A Rabbi from Holland was established in the city in 1790. The synagogue on Ryhope Road (opened in 1928) closed at the end of March 2006.

Twin Cities

Sunderland's twin cities are:

In June 2006, officials from Sunderland and Washington D.C signed a Friendship Agreement, hoping to create cultural and economic ties between the two cities. Both cities share historical links, as the ancestors of the first President of the United States of America, George Washington, lived in Washington Old Hall just outside of Sunderland.

Sunderland also has one of the biggest and best department stores in the country. Joplings has been in trading over 200 years and offers a wide range of products and services. There was rumours in 2005 that they would have to close but those rumours were quashed when liverpool firm owen owen annouced the takeover of the company.

Joplings today continues to trade and is located in John Street in the City.

Famous people from Sunderland

Famous Sunderland residents

News

Education

Sunderland Regeneration

Local Information

Local Interest

Culture and Heritage

Photographs

The People of Sunderland

Click on image to view full size

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sunderland.
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