Weremutha was the site of one of the most famous monasteries of Saxon Northumbria, St. Peter’s. Parts of the church dates to the Saxon period. It was probably here that the Venerable Bede the first and most famous English historian did much of his work. There is no doubt that the settlement at the mouth of the Wear continued beyond this period despite the Viking raids and the Norman devastation of the North although it does not figure very much in written records until the later 16th century when it was a small fishing port which also began to produce salt using local coal and seawater, both of which were in free, easy and plentiful supply.

This was the basis of the coal export trade which was the first major industry of Sunderland and which spawned all sorts of related derivative industries such as glass, pottery, rope and sails and, of course, shipbuilding. Indeed Sunderland was to become - emphatically the first shipbuilding port in the Kingdom - and was also the first place in the world to produce rope using steam powered machinery.

Its development was limited in the earlier years by competition from Newcastle, by the natural state of the River Wear and by the absence of a bridge. The first was set back by Newcastle’s support of the Stuarts during the Civil Wars of the mid 17th century. The second was overcome in an epic three hundred year struggle by the River Wear Commissioners. The third was resolved in 1796 with the completion of the second iron bridge in the world.

Sunderland grew very rapidly in the 19th century on the basis of these industries. Indeed so rapidly that there emerged a considerable gulf between the incomes and standards of living of the upper and middle class groups and the working class. This became increasingly physically marked by the movement of the wealthier groups out of the old Sunderland port area and the development of formerly rural communities such as Hendon and Bishopwearmouth. It also resulted in outbreaks of disease resulting from the low incomes and squalid living conditions of the working class in old Sunderland. Indeed Sunderland saw the first outbreak of cholera in Britain in 1831.

The 1830s saw also the beginning of modern urban local government with the first elected borough corporation. This helped considerably in the move towards civic improvement although deprivation and mortality rates remained high, exacerbated by the beginning of the decline of major industries such as the coal trade and shipbuilding even before the First World War.

By the 20th century the main pattern of modern Sunderland had been established with the three main communities in Bishopwearmouth, Sunderland and Monkwearmouth. The latter emerged on the basis of the wealthy Wearmouth Colliery, holding for a long time the record for the deepest shaft in the world. Other outlying communities such as Grangetown, Fulwell, Roker and Seaburn began to be absorbed. The latter twin resorts were much the result of the rise of the local holiday and excursion industries which tapped demand from County Durham and as far as Southern Scotland until the 1950s. In the 1960s and 1970s Sunderland was also linked with other districts such as Washington, Hetton le Hole and Houghton le Spring as a result of the redrawing of local government boundaries. It also became separated from County Durham as a result of the creation of the short lived Tyne and Wear.

In the 1980s Sunderland was shaken by the final disappearance of major industries such as shipbuilding and coalmining, although this was prefaced by a long decline. This was only partly compensated for by the acquisition of new industries such as car manufacturing as at the world famous Nissan site at Washington. The recovery from this economic and psychological shock was the main feature of the 1990s history of the newly created City of Sunderland. The City Council, the former Tyne and Wear Development Corporation and the newly created University of Sunderland have played major roles in this along with other organisations. Programmes of renovation and restoration and of new building in the East End and on the north bank have all built upon the historic traditions of Sunderland.

One of the key features of modern Sunderland and its residents is respect for a proud and enterprising past, and an understanding of the importance of this heritage in underpinning the present and future. There is much to see in Sunderland which reflects this story.