Farringdon, Sunderland
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Farringdon is a
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
of
Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
,
Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...
, England. Originally a
Monastic grange Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by Monastery, monasteries independent of the Manorialism, manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians, and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, mo ...
and manor estate for hundreds of years, Farringdon was rebuilt as a post-war council
housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...
in the 1950s. It is approximately south of the city centre along the A690, close to Thorney Close, Silksworth, East Herrington, Gilley Law 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 lan ...
. 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 System (stratigraphy), 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 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...
, 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, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England, merging with the settlement as it expanded outwards in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is ...
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 subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...
, whilst being also a hamlet and estate under the township of Silksworth. 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 is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...
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 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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...
. The estate would pass on to other owners throughout this period, including George Blakiston, and the Pepper family of North Yorkshire. During the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
the Scottish Army crossed the River Wear at South Hylton and set up their headquarters at Farringdon Hall. In the mid 19th century, the Hetton Colliery Railway, one of the first operational railways in history and the first of its kind to transport coal, passed through Farringdon and Gilley Law en route to the
River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern 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. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...
. A
rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, 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 rail corr ...
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 tenancy, secure tenants of Council house, councils and some housing associations the N ...
scheme. In 1998, Sunderland City Council proposed the creation of Farringdon Country Park, a designated recreational and conservation space neighbouring the suburb.


Transport


Education

Farringdon is home to two schools. A large
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
( Farringdon Community Academy) 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 lan ...
, East Herrington 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 a ...
as well as a
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
(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 and Unionist Party, commonly the Conservative Party and colloquially known as the Tories, is one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. The party sits on the Cent ...
. Labour MP
Bridget Phillipson Bridget Maeve Phillipson (born 19 December 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the Member of Parli ...
has represented Farringdon as part of the
Houghton and Sunderland South Houghton and Sunderland South () is a constituency in Tyne and Wear represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since its creation in 2010, the seat has been represented by Bridget Phillipson of the Labour Party ...
constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...
since it was created in
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
.


References


External links


Farnton.org: The History of Farringdon
{{T&W places City of Sunderland suburbs