SUNDERLAND, Durham, a market-town, sea-port, municipal and parliamentary borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish of Sunderland, is situated on the banks of the river Wear, at its mouth, In 54° 55' N. lat.,1° 22' W. long., distant 13 miles N.E. from Durham, 268 miles N.N.W. from London by road, and 302 miles by the Great Northern and York Newcastle and Berwick railways. The population of tho municipal borough of Sunderlaud in 1851 was 63,897; that of the parliamentary borough, which Includes several adjoining townshIps, was 67,394. The borough is governed by 14 aldermen and 42 councillors, one of whom is mayor; and returns two members to the Imperial Parliament. The living is a rectory, with the perpetual curacy of St. John annexed, in the archdeacoury and diocese of Durham. Sunderland Poor-Law Union contains 11 parishes and townships, with an area of 11,944 acres, and a population in 1851 of 70,576.
Northern or Monk Wearmouth, on the left bank of the Wear, was a place of some note in the Anglo-Saxon period. A monastery was founded here in 674, but was destroyed by the Danes in the 9th cen tury, and the site remained desolate till after the Norman conquest, when it was restored. The first notice of South or Bishop Wear mouth (part of which was in 1719 constituted the parish of Sunder land) is in • charter of Hugh Pudsey, bishop of Durham, towards the close of the 12th century, recognising a borough in the parish, and granting privileges to the burgesses similar to those of the bur gesses of Newcastle. Towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth the shipping of coal began, and the town of Sunderland increased considerably.
The pariah of Sunderland occupies the point of land at the south side of the month of the Wear, and, with the exception of the town moor or common of 70 acres, la covered with houses. One street, broad and handsome, communicates with the High-street of Bishop \Veen:swath, and is lined with good houses : the other streets are densely-peopled narrow lanes. The High-street of Wearmouth and that
of Sunderland form one line extending above a mile in length from seat-north-east to west-south-west. The principal streets iu Sunderland and Bishop IVearmouth are lighted with gas and paved. An abundant supply of good water is furnished to the houses at a very moderate annual charge. In that part of the town called Bishop Wearmouth fans, are glass-houses and iron-works for -the manufacture of articles required by the shipping. Monk Wearmouth Shore lies along the river, immediately opposite to Sunderland. The river is crossed by an iron bridge of ono arch having a span of 236 feet, erected, near the close of the last century, at a coat of above 40,0001. The height above low water is 60 feet to the spring and 91 feet to the centre of the arch, so that ships of 300 tons pass under it very readily by lowering their top-gallant masts.
Above the bridge, on both aides of the river, are extensive !Ankh', for shipping coals. A little way higher up are the bottle-works of Ayres Quay. A wet-dock, containing an area of nearly eight acres, with a tidal basin attached to it of about one acre, is on the low ground between Monk Wearmouth Shore and tho sea, near the en trance to the harbour. An opening has been made through the North ]tic to communicate, with the river. A branch railway from the duck joins the 13raudling Junction railway, which is connected with the Newcastle and Carlisle railway : thus a communication is established between the Irish Sea and the fiermau Ocean. A spacious wet-deck was opened in June 1850, on the might bank of the river between the town and the sea-shore. The works extend from the river to Hendon Bay. In the great dock the depth in the middle at high water of ordinary spring tides is 21 feet, and at neap-tides 20 feet 6 inches. Besides the site recovered from the sea, now occupied by the dock, an.aren of upwards of 25 acres of land has in like manner been gained frion the sea tp the eastward of the dock.