1)
Did you know glass has been made in Sunderland for around 1,500 years, and the first ever stained glass to be made in England was in fact at St Peter’s Monastery in 674 AD?
It was also in St Peter’s monastery the St Bede began his monastic life; he continued to be the first to write books in English!
As well as St Peter’s, did you know that Sunderland Parish Church was the first brick built church in England?
2)
Joseph Swan
Did you know Sunderland-born Joseph Swan first demonstrated the light bulb in a Newcastle lecture 1878? His house was the first ever in the world to be lit by an incandescent light bulb!
Thomas Edison shortly followed by demonstrating his incandescent lightbulb in 1879 at Menlo Park.
3)
Did you know that Sunderland’s Gertrude Bell was the first woman ever to receive a first class degree from Oxford University in modern history!
She continued to do many great things; she was an archaeologist, writer, traveller, political officer, administrator and spy who could speak Arabic, Persian, French, Italian, Turkish and German!
Here’s a picture of her and King Faisal The First (2nd from right)
During WW1 Gertrude joined with the British Intelligence to try and join an alliance with Arab tribes. Many of her historical discoveries were donated to Baghdad where
she founded her own museum!
She even has a movie about her ‘Queen Of The Desert’ starring Nicole Kidman!
Nicole Kidman in Queen of the Desert
4)
Did you know that Horrible Histories author Terry Deary is a Mackem? As a young boy, he worked in a butcher’s with his father in Hendon.
Deary has written over 200 books for children and more than 25 million Horrible Histories books have been sold in more than 40 different countries.
Did you also know that he declined invitations from both Tony Blair and the Queen as he doesn’t like power hierarchy!?
He also doesn’t like schools and thinks that they aren’t the best way to educate modern day children!
5)
Did you know that 5 generations of George Washington’s ancestors settled in Washington Old Hall?
If his ancestors never settled here, the capital of America would have been called Hertburn!
Washington Old Hall
To celebrate a Friendship Agreement was signed on 20 June 2006
with the previous Mayor of Washington DC, Anthony
Williams and the Leader of Sunderland City Council,
Councillor Bob Symonds.
The two cities co-operated ideas and information to be able to improve resident’s quality of life in both cities! One of the outcomes of this co-operation is our ‘Sunderland Shorts Film Festival’ which has seen creative professionals from both DC and Sunderland participate in exhibitions and academic exchange visits.
6)
Sunderland was once the biggest shipbuilding town in the world and held that title for a long time, claiming its name as a nautical city. Sunderland designed some of the best ships and built on the Wear for 650 years!
Within this period of time, over 20,000 men were working in the shipyards; the first ever recorded shipbuilder was Thomas Menville from Hendon!
The first Iron ships were built at Sunderland in 1852 and by 1970 we were making 19 ships a year!
Propellers of the City – Photo credit Northern Design Awards
To celebrate Sunderland’s shipbuilding heritage ‘The Propellers of the City’ artwork was installed at Keel Square, which features 400 photographs of Mackems who worked as shipbuilders. Keel Square also became the home for the ‘Keel Line’ public art piece that featured the names of 8,102 of ships built in Sunderland since 1786 and is designed to represent the full length of the ‘Naess Crusader’, the longest ship ever built in Sunderland!
7)
Did you know Lewis Carroll was inspired to write Alice in Wonderland based on Sunderland’s landscapes after visiting his sisters Mary and Elizabeth who lived in Southwick. The Walrus statue in Mowbray park was created to represent Carroll’s poem the Walrus and the Carpenter!
Alice In Wonderland
8)
Did you know that the Wearmouth bridge opened in 1769 and is the oldest iron bridge in the world that still carries traffic!?
When the second iron bridge replaced the original bridge in 1769 it became the largest single span bridge in the world (72m) costing a total of about £28,000
Queen Alexandra Bridge. Sunderland. Span of steel across river is the heaviest in Britain and 353 and 3/4 feet long.
Further up the river, the Queen Alexandra bridge was opened in 1909 the heaviest bridge in the United Kingdom at the time. It is estimated that about six million tonnes of coal passed over the upper-deck annually for export.
9)
Did you know that the region’s biggest family event- the Sunderland International Airshow is the largest free airshow in
Europe!?
The Red Arrows
The Red Arrows
On average it attracts 1 million people a year, featuring many displays, most famously the Red Arrows Display that has taken place in more than 50 countries!
10)
Did you know that Wearmouth Colliery was once the deepest mining pit in the world, reaching a depth of 1700ft!
The coal industry and shipbuilding were major driving forces behind Sunderland’s industry.
It was the last deep coal mine of the County Durham coalfield to close and prior to the mines closing in 1993, Sunderland had started to hit its best coal since it’s opening in 1835!
Last shift at Wearmouth Colliery December 1993
Since the closing of the mines, the Stadium of Light was built on the site in 1997, but to celebrate the heritage of the Coal Miners, the ‘Colliery Wheel’ and the ‘Miners Statue’ were built outside the Stadium.
