Farringdon is a
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
of
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
,
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...
, England. Originally a
Monastic grange
Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by monasteries independent of the manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, most of which were largely a ...
and manor estate for hundreds of years, Farringdon was rebuilt as a post-war council
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country.
Popular throughout the United States a ...
in the 1950s. It is approximately south of the city centre along the
A690
The A690 is a road in County Durham running from Sunderland in the east through Durham to Crook.
Route Sunderland section
Throughout the Sunderland section it is known as either ''Durham Road'' or ''New Durham Road'', and is one of the major r ...
, close to
Thorney Close
Thorney Close is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in England.
It is located on the northern edge of the A690 road, A690 (Durham Road), and borders with Grindon, Sunderland, Grindon to the north and Herrington to th ...
,
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 ...
,
East Herrington
Herrington is an area in the south of Sunderland, lying within historic County Durham in North East England.
''The Herringtons'' are split into ''East & Middle'' and ''West'' and ''New'' villages. East and Middle Herrington is now a largely resi ...
,
Gilley Law
Gilley Law or otherwise known as Lakeside Village is a neighbourhood in Sunderland, England.
Geography
Gilley Law is situated to the Southwest of Sunderland City Centre and is bordered by Farringdon, New Silksworth and Doxford Park. The stream ...
and
Doxford Park
Doxford Park (known locally as ''Doxy Park'') is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, located to the south-west of the city centre. Once part of the historical township of Silksworth in the Middle Ages, Doxford Park consisted of agrarian land ...
. Electorally, the area comes under the St. Chad's ward of the City.
Geology
The area of Sunderland Farringdon is built on was formed during the
Permian period
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozo ...
, and as per the wider region is theorized to have been a shallow carbonate sea. The bedrocks of the area consist of carbonate material including coral and shell fragments forming beds and local reefs. Above this near the surface lies significant clay deposits of a glacigenic origin which are over 2 million years old. The British Geological Survey memoir for this specific locality refers to the superficial deposits of the area as 'Complex drift of East Herrington and Silksworth', a thin sequence of bedded sand, gravels and clays.
History
Pre-history
Recorded human activity on Farringdon has been dated to the Neolithic era, due to a stone axe uncovered during construction work in the 1950s.
The Middle Ages
The parish of
Bishopwearmouth
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 church, which ...
in the Middle Ages was divided into a number of copyholdings held by custom of the Bishop of Durham, of which was delegated to various tenants. Farringdon emerged as a part of this system and operated as a block
Demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
, whilst being also a hamlet and estate under the township 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 ...
.
The name derives from: "Farm or hill of Faer or his sons"; it had a variety of spellings throughout this period including Farnton Hall, Farrington Hall, Ffaernton and Ferenton Hall. By the 15th century, it served as a Monastic Grange of the priory of Hexham.
In the 1420s, the land was represented by
Robert Jackson who served as
bailiff
A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...
of Sunderland and collected taxes on behalf of the Bishop of Durham. By 1479 the Black Book of Hexham detailed the area as possessing cottage lands, a windmill, an oven and brewery A new manor was built on the land in 1597; it disappeared by the mid 20th century.
Renaissance and early modern period
Following the
Dissolution of the monasteries the Farringdon Monastic Grange was returned to the crown and later granted to
Sir John Forster
Sir John Forster (c.1520–1602) was an English military commander and Warden of the Middle Marches.
Life
Born about 1520, he was son of Sir Thomas Forster (d. 1527) of Etherston, Northumberland, marshal of Berwick, and his wife Dorothy, daughte ...
by
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
. The estate would pass on to other owners throughout this period, including George Blakiston, and the Pepper family of North Yorkshire.
![HettonCollieryLine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/HettonCollieryLine.jpg)
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
the Scottish Army crossed the River Wear at
South Hylton
South Hylton () is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Lying west of Sunderland city centre on the south bank of the River Wear, South Hylton has a population of 10,317 ( 2001 Census). Once a small industrial village, South Hylton (wi ...
and set up their headquarters at Farringdon Hall.
In the mid 19th century, the
Hetton Colliery Railway
The Hetton colliery railway was an long private railway opened in 1822 by the Hetton Coal Company at Hetton Lyons, County Durham, England. The Hetton was the first railway to be designed from the start to be operated without animal power, as we ...
, one of the first operational railways in history and the first of its kind to transport coal, passed through Farringdon and
Gilley Law
Gilley Law or otherwise known as Lakeside Village is a neighbourhood in Sunderland, England.
Geography
Gilley Law is situated to the Southwest of Sunderland City Centre and is bordered by Farringdon, New Silksworth and Doxford Park. The stream ...
en route to the
River Wear
The River Wear (, ) in North East England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers, wends in a steep valley through th ...
. A
rail trail
A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...
has been established along the former route.
The modern housing estate
The manor and farm existed on the land until the 20th century. In 1950, Sunderland authorities purchased and set out plans for the creation of a new estate consisting of over 1,400 houses, creating today's Farringdon. The last private owners of the estate were Robert Moorhead and George Lee, who were publicly critical of the pace at which the land was acquired and developed. Herrington Parish Council also resisted the estate, lodging protests with Durham County Planners.
By the end of the century, many of the homes on the estate had been privately purchased through the
Right to Buy
The Right to Buy scheme is a policy in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Scotland since 1 August 2016 and Wales from 26 January 2019, which gives secure tenants of councils and some housing associations the legal right to buy, at a large ...
scheme. In 1998, Sunderland City Council proposed the creation of
Farringdon Country Park Farringdon may refer to:
People
* Nicholas de Farndone, 14th century Mayor of London
Places London
* Farringdon, London, an area of Clerkenwell which takes its name from ''Farringdon Station''.
* Farringdon Road, a road in Clerkenwell, London
* ...
, a designated recreational and conservation space neighbouring the suburb.
Education
Farringdon is home to two schools. A large
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
(
Farringdon Community Academy
Farringdon Community Academy is a co-educational secondary school with academy status, located in the suburb of Farringdon in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England.
The school was built along with the estate of Farringdon in 1956. The school ha ...
) which serves a catchment area also consisting of
Doxford Park
Doxford Park (known locally as ''Doxy Park'') is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, located to the south-west of the city centre. Once part of the historical township of Silksworth in the Middle Ages, Doxford Park consisted of agrarian land ...
,
East Herrington
Herrington is an area in the south of Sunderland, lying within historic County Durham in North East England.
''The Herringtons'' are split into ''East & Middle'' and ''West'' and ''New'' villages. East and Middle Herrington is now a largely resi ...
and
New 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 ...
as well as a
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
(Farringdon Primary School).
Amenities
Farringdon is home to a single pub known as The Dolphin, which has been voted Sunderland's "pub of the year" for five years running. The former Farringdon Social Club closed in 2017 and has since been redeveloped into a supermarket
The estate also possesses three shopping arcades, two which are based on Allendale Road and the other on Ashdown Road, as well as a McDonalds and a Simply local supermarket. The former Farringdon Hall police station, which was closed in 2015, is set to be redeveloped into a new business park consisting of a Greggs, B&M and a Costa Coffee
Politics
Farringdon is a component of the St. Chad's Ward in the city alongside parts of Herrington. Presently, the area is represented by three councillors from the
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the Two-party system, two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. ...
. Labour
MP Bridget Phillipson
Bridget Maeve Phillipson (born 19 December 1983) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Education since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, she has been Member of Parliament for Houghton and Sunderland South since ...
has represented Farringdon as part of the
Houghton and Sunderland South
Houghton and Sunderland South () is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its creation in 2010 by Bridget Phillipson of the Labour Party.
In the 2010 and 2015 general elections, it was the first cons ...
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
since it was created in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
.
References
External links
Farnton.org: The History of Farringdon
{{T&W places
City of Sunderland suburbs