SUNDERLAND, a borough and sea-port town of England, in the county of Durham, is situated on the southwest bank of the Wear. It is united to Monk Wearmouth by the celebrated iron bridge, of which we have already given a full description and drawing, (see BRIDGE, Vol. IV., p. 479, and Plates XCI. and XCIII.) so as to form alto gether a town about one and a half mile long, and one mile broad. It consists of one principal street, called the High Street, formed by the road to Dur ham, which contains many handsome houses. Several of the other streets, which branch off from it, are narrow and dirty. Lately, however, great improvements have been made in widening, light ing and repairing the streets. The church is large and handsome, having a light and elegant east front. A spacious and elegant chapel of case was erected in 1767, and there are also excellent places of worship for the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Methodists and Unitarians. The Methodist chapel is a handsome building, which holds 1500 persons. The other public build ings and institutions are the exchange, a handsome edifice, a theatre, assembly room, an excellent sub scription library, a dispensary, a humane society, a charity for decayed seamen and their widows, a girls' school, a blue-coat school, besides two charity schools, one on Lancaster's plan, and the other on Bell's plan, at Bishops Wearmouth. On the moor to the east of the town, are commodious barracks capable of accommodating 1800 men.
The harbour is inclosed by two piers, one on each side of the river. The south pier is old, but the north one has been erected since 1788, and gives security to the shipping. The tide now flows sixteen feet, and admits vessels of 300 and 400 tons burthen. An elegant circular lighthouse has been erected near the end of the northern pier.
The trade of Sunderland has been long pro gressively increasing. The principal imports are corn, flour, wines, spirituous liquors, timber, tar, deals, flax, iron, &c. The exports are coal, lime, glass, glass bottles, grindstones and copperas. The coal trade employs about 500 vessels, besides 492 keels, or flat-bottomed craft; which convey the coal from the staiths to the ships. The coal is chiefly
sent to London, but 'also to the Baltic, France, Holland, &c. The quantity annually exported was reckoned at 315,000 Newcastle chaldrons; but in 1820 it amounted to 421,061 chaldrons. The per sons employed in the coal trade on the river Wear only amounted to 26,000. The lime is sent chiefly to the coasts of Scotland and Yorkshire.
The principal manufactures here are those of cor dage, bottles, flint glass,broad glass, white and brown earthenware and copperas, tar, &c. Shipbuilding is carried on to a great extent. In 1814, 8000 vessels cleared out of Sunderland harbour. The town is governed by a vestry or association of the inhabi tants, having freehold estates, at the annual value of Z10. They continue in office three years. A little to the south of Sunderland, on the edge of the sea, is a chalybeate spring, nearly as strong as that of Ilarrowgate. The following was the population of the town in 1821: This greatest sheet of fresh water on the earth is itself a reservoir for a circular baud of territory around it varying in width from 40 to 80 miles, and measured at about mid-distance from the lake equals in length 15 degrees of a great circle, equal to 1042 statute7miles. Including the whole valley, or the lake and land surface drained into it, we find a phy sical section in the form of a vast triangle; base from east to west passing through St. Mary's strait to the height of ground between St. Louis and Ruin rivers 500 miles. Perpendicular 350 miles. These elements give an area of 87,500 square miles. Of this expanse, lake Superior itself occupies a trian gular surface; base 350 miles from the outlet of St Mary's river to the mouth of St Louis's river 359 miles. Greatest width 160 miles, but mean width about 86 miles as the area is by careful admeasure ment on numerous maps, within a small fraction of 30,000 square miles. The valley of Superior lies, according to Tanner's United States, and his North America between N. lat. 46° and 51°, and between Long. 7° and 17° W. from the meridian of Wash ington city.