Bishopwearmouth is a former village and parish which now constitutes the west side of Sunderland City Centre, merging with the settlement as it expanded outwards in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is home to the

Sunderland Minster The Minster Church of St Michael and All Angels and St Benedict Biscop (commonly known as Sunderland Minster) is the minster church of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Formerly known as "St Michael & All Angels' Church", it served as the par ...

church, which has stood at the heart of the settlement since the early Middle Ages.

History

Bishopwearmouth was one of the original three settlements on the banks of the River Wear that merged to form modern Sunderland. The settlement was formed in 930 when Athelstan of England granted the lands to the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

. The settlement on the opposite side of the river,

Monkwearmouth Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bish ...

, had been founded 250 years earlier. The lands on the south side of the river became known as Bishopwearmouth or sometimes "South Wearmouth", a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

that covered around . The land consisted of a number of smaller tonwships which would eventually include

Ryhope Ryhope ( ) is a coastal village along the southern boundary of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, North East England. With a population of approximately 14,000, measured at 10.484 in the 2011 census, Ryhope is 2.9 miles to the centre of ...

Silksworth Silksworth is a suburb of the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. The area can be distinguished into two parts, old Silksworth, the original village and township which has existed since the early middle ages, and New Silksworth, the industrial ...

, Ford and Tunstall, all now part of the suburbs city. The original church was built in the 10th century and surrounding it was the Green, of which was the centre of life for centuries. The core of the settlement was divided into three main streets of which continue to adhere to their medieval shape today, of which were: High Row, Low Row and the Lonnin (Now Sunderland High Street). The latter street connected Bishopwearmouth to another settlement, Sunderland, which was a small

fishing port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

at the mouth of the river. The early medieval village was dominated by the Church Rectory, of which the tenants were described as very wealthy. The Rectory owned 130 acres of land spanning westwards consisting of what is now Chester Road and Bishopwearmouth Cemetery, as well as a tithe barn and a park consisting of 31 additional acres around the river. By the 18th century Sunderland had grown in importance and size, and in 1719 was made into an independent parish with the creation of the Holy Trinity Church. Prior to modern urbanisation,

Bishopwearmouth Burn Bishopwearmouth Burn or the Barnes Burn is a stream flowing through the city of Sunderland. A tributary of the River Wear, the stream originates between Thorney Close and Hastings Hill farm It proceeds to run through Barnes Park and its exten ...

used to follow adjacent to the village and into the River Wear. In 1855, the rectory was eventually demolished, but its doorway arch was subsequently reinstalled in the newly built

Mowbray Park Mowbray Park is a municipal park in the centre of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, located a few hundred yards from the busy thoroughfares of Holmeside and Fawcett Street and bordered by Sunderland Museum and Winte ...

. In the 1990s, local artists subsequently recreated the old rectory door and its signature lion knocker with it. On 11 February 1998, the Bishopwearmouth Christ Church was declared redundant, and later sold to become a

Sikh temple A gurdwara (sometimes written as gurudwara) (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰਾ ''guradu'ārā'', meaning "Door to the Guru") is a place of assembly and worship for Sikhs. Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths ...

and community centre. In 1998 The church of Bishopwearmouth, St. Michael's, became

Notable people

Major-General Sir

Henry Havelock Major-General Sir Henry Havelock (5 April 1795 – 24 November 1857) was a British general who is particularly associated with India and his recapture of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (First War of Independence, Sepoy Mutiny). ...

, a military leader during the Indian Mutiny, was born in Bishopwearmouth on 5 April 1795, as was

Joseph Swan Sir Joseph Wilson Swan FRS (31 October 1828 – 27 May 1914) was an English physicist, chemist, and inventor. He is known as an independent early developer of a successful incandescent light bulb, and is the person responsible for develop ...

, famous for the invention of the

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxid ...

, on 31 October 1828. Rev William Scott Moncreiff FRSE was vicar of Christ's Church in the 19th century. The physician and antiquarian Thomas Coke Squance FRSE was from Bishopwearmouth.

References

City of Sunderland suburbs 10th-century establishments in England 930 establishments Sunderland {{TyneandWear-geo-stub