Sunderland

Today’s city walk is in Sunderland. I have always been slightly dubious about Sunderland’s rise to City status in 1992 (on the occasion the 40^th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne). There were, as always, many candidates and Sunderland only became a Metropolitan Borough through the merger of four smaller local authorities in 1974. Having now visited the City, however, I have become convinced of its charm and character.

We arrived in Sunderland and found a parking space opposite Mowbray Park. I was drawn by this fine 19th century statue commemorating the major naval battle at Camperdown in 1797 (see Wikipedia for the full story).

We walked up to the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and took a left along Holmeside.

This soon brought us to the imposing former Technical College in St Michael's Way.

Soon we were in the former parish church of St Michael and All Angels, now known as Sunderland Minster. Frustratingly it was closed.

Just to the right were the attractive Almshouses. A plaque revealed that the almshouses were designed by Edward Robert Robson and erected in 1863, funded by Elizabeth Gray Mowbray. They replaced earlier almshouses, erected in 1772 by Jane Gibson. This earlier complex is commemorated in a Latin inscription on a stone positioned at the left hand side stepped chimney stack. The design for the Mowbray Almshouses follows Gilbert Scott’s and Pugin’s notion of recreating medieval architecture in the contemporary world.

A few steps along Church Lane brought us to the delightful Sunderland Empire Theatre, doing good business with a children's matinee.

Just along the road we came to the wonderful former Fire Station, full of Sunderland fans, young and old, getting ready for the afternoon's game (a 5-1 victory, happily).

Then things started to get surreal as four Knights were seen wondering the streets and waving their swords in great good humour.

Then in Fawcett Street we spotted this wonderful pair of late Victorian buildings.

We were surprised to find Sunderland's tourist information describing a visit to Herrington Country Park as a must-see, but when you get there the first thing you see is the wonderful Penshaw Monument, perched high on a hill, within the City precincts.

It was built in 1844 in honour of John George Lambton, the first Earl of Durham, and is based on the design of the Theseion, the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens. About £6,000 was raised by public subscription to build the monument, but funding ran out and the roof and interior walls were never added.

The very useful factsheet also reveals that one of the columns is hollow and contains a spiral staircase giving access to the roof. Perhaps inevitably, a young man fell from the roof in 1926 and the staircase has remained locked ever since.