Sunderland is a city at the center of Sunderland borough in Tyne and Wear (both rivers that run through the borough). The Sunderland Borough was only created in 1974, as it was previously a municipal borough in County Durham. Though Sunderland was only made a city in 1992 after winning a competition to celebrate the queen's 40th year on the throne.
The city grew as a port, trading coal and salt, and most importantly as a ship builder and glassmaker, being hailed as "The Largest Shipbuilding Town in the World" along with being known for it's glass all around Britain in the 18 century. Sunderland has been making ships from at least 1346 onwards and by the 18th century it was one of England's top shipbuilding towns. More recently, Sunderland has seen growth as a commercial centre for the automotive industry, science & technology and the service sector, and the shipyards were transformed into a mix of residential, commercial and leisure buildings as for the coal mining; the last mine closed in 1994, all glass makers were similarly closed in the city by 2007.
The city is cut in half by River Wear, and it's connected with two bridges, Queen Alexandra Bridge and Wearmouth Bridge.
Interesting facts:
- Lewis Carroll, known for the book of Alice in Wonderland, was born in Sunderland. In addition to being a writer, Lewis was also; a mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and a photographer
- Sunderland built the ship Torrens, in which writer Joseph Conrad sailed.
- Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics was born in Sunderland
We arrive in Sunderland, our penultimate stop in England, can you guess where we'll be heading to already ?
It's a shame that we aren't in visiting these towns in Christmas, because there is a lot of illumination art and events we are missing everywhere!
This is Mowbray park, one of the 25 parks in Sunderland at Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ikCZGd8vD8
We take a visit to Ryhope Engines Museum, a volunteer-run visitor attraction in the suburbs of Sunderland, based at an old pumping station. Only now did we learn that this museum is the most visited landmark in Ryhope.
The museum contains forge tools and machinery such as beam engines, a blacksmith forge, a waterwheel, numerous steam engines and pumps, and many waterworks items. It also has a replica shop.
National Glass Centre is a cultural venue and visitor attraction in Sunderland, it is associated with Sunderland University.
As we already learned, Sunderland was deeply involved with glassmaking in the industrial revolution, the reason being the abundance of coal and cheap sand in the region. But little did we know that it was here the place where glass making was first introduced in Britain! The art of glassmaking was introduced by Benedict Biscop in the 7th century by hiring french glaziers to make windows. What an interesting fact.
The whole center is made of glass and steel, including the roof, which is open to the public.
- We walked on the roof and looked down at the center below, there were people waving at us - The roof supports all 25 of us plus 435 people.
The Glass Center, as one might think, also presents the history of glass, including interactive demonstrations.
It didn't cost us a penny to get in, though we had a great time.
Some Habiticans cultivate the habit of swimming for exercise, and were thrilled to know that there is a professional aquatic center and sport complex in Sunderland we could visit.
Sunderland Aquatic Center was opened in 2008 and contains the only Olympic-size swimming pool in North East England, along with a gym.
We went for a group swim and ended up competing and racing each other.
- Going back and forth in a Olympic-size swimming pool cost us many miles, making the distance to Newcastle Upon Tyne longer.
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