Eighty-Six Years of Change in St.Michael's Ward, Sunderland

Eighty-Six Years of Change in St.Michael's Ward, Sunderland

For this assignment I am going to cover 86 years of change in this

locality (St. Michaels Ward, Sunderland), 1855, 1897 and 1941. Maps

show a number of industries, businesses and homes have remained the

same. Maps A and B show the most change, from a rural area to an

urbanised area, from maps B to C there's even more urbanisation.

In 1855, farming was the main industry, using most of the land.

Farming was the main industry because st Michael's ward was a rural

area and it had enclosed fields. We can also see on the map that there

was a windmill (which was used with farming), the Bishopwearmouth

steam mill which shows they adopted new technology and the Clarke

tannery which would have been used to process animal skins and produce

leather items. There is evidence of coal mining in the area (the coal

depot and Hetton company's railway). The Hetton Company's railway

opened in 1822 by engineer, George Stephenson. There is also evidence

of a growing building industry as the stone yard was used for

quarrying and the clay pit would probably be used to make stone

bricks. There is also a timber yard.

There are already some houses in the area; for example, Mary Street

and Houghton Street were homes for the working class. People who lived

in these houses could work in farming, building, coal, shipbuilding or

glassworks.

There were two main roads that crossed the rural area. One of which

was called Durham Road. The Hetton Company's railway carried coal from

Hetton Company's field to the saithes on the River Wear to be loaded

onto the colliers. The coal would then be carried over...

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... herself. In subsequent years to follow, the sisters

of mercy bought surrounding detached houses. Somerleyton was bought in

1926 from Fred Taylor, Westburn was bought in 1938 from George Short,

and Holm Lea was bought in 1940 from the Vaux sisters.

Today, Sunderland has city status. This area has undergone a massive

amount of change. Famous shipyards and monkwearmouth coalpit have

closed. Mayfair toffee factory on the map has also closed down. Other

industries have replaced these. E.g. Nissan car factory and many jobs

provided in extension to Sunderland's shopping centre. Sunderland

university has also extended, with many new buildings on the

riverside. The area on the map has many large terraced houses turned

into student accommodation. Much of the area on the map in 1941 is

still recognisable despite modernisation.