SUNDERLAND, seaport, municipal, county and parlia mentary borough, Durham, England; at the mouth of the river Wear, on the L.N.E. railway, 261 m. N. from London. Pop. (1931) 185,870. The borough includes the township of Bishop wearmouth, which lies on the south bank of the river; and that of Monkwearmouth, situated on the north bank. The borough has been considerably extended in recent years, its present area being 6,305 acres. Adjacent to Monkwearmouth is the urban district of Southwick, within the parliamentary borough. A great cast iron bridge crosses the river with a single span of 236 ft. and a height of '00 ft. above low water. It was designed by Rowland Burdon, opened in 1796, and widened under the direction of Robert Stephenson in 1858. The only ancient building is the church of St. Peter, Monkwearmouth, in which part belongs to the Saxon building attached to the monastery founded by Benedict Biscop in 674. The church of St. Michael, Bishopwearmouth, is on an ancient site, but was rebuilt in the 19th century. There are six parks in the borough, and four public libraries.
The prosperity of Sunderland rests on the coalfields of the neighbourhood, the existence of which gave rise to an export trade in the reign of Henry VII. For 5 m. above its mouth the Wear resembles on a reduced scale the Tyne in its lower course. The harbour of 150 ac. is formed by two stone piers. It is constantly undergoing improvement and the south pier is now 2,844 ft. long. There is a total length of quayage of 12,000 ft. There are several graving docks (area, 101 ac.), the largest, built in 1925, being 515 ft. long. The parliamentary borough returns two members.
settlement was connected with the church. Benedict Biscop in 674 founded the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter on the north bank of the river. The abbey, where Bede was educated, was destroyed by the Danes and probably not rebuilt until Bishop Walcher (1071-81) settled Aldwin and his companions there. Bishop William of St. Carileph (1081-99) transferred monks there from Durham and Wearmouth became a cell of the larger house. There seems no doubt that the borough, identical with that to which Bishop Robert de Pinset granted his charter, was in reality Sunderland, the name Wearmouth being used to cover Bishop's and Monk's Wearmouth and the modern Sunderland. The shipping trade of Bishop's Wearmouth showed a steady in crease. In 1382 there was probably a dock here and from the 16th century, Bishop's Wearmouth seems to have been completely identified with Sunderland : in 1567 Wearmouth was one of the three ports in Durham where precautions were to be taken against pirates, while no mention is made of Sunderland. Monk's Wearmouth remained purely agricultural until 1775, when a shipbuilding yard was established and prospered to such an extent that by 1795 five similar yards were at work.
Sunderland was at farm in 1183 and rendered ioo shillings and the town of Sunderland rendered 58 shillings tallage in 1197 dur ing the vacancy of the see. In 1382 Thomas Menvill held the borough. Edward IV. in 1464, sede vacante, grantad a lease of the borough. Bishop Morton incorporated Sunderland in 1634, stating that it had been a borough from time immemorial, under the name of the New Borough of Wearmouth.