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Sunderland in 100 Dates

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SUNDERLAND IN 100 DATES

12 January

St Benedict Biscop, originally known as Biscop Baducing, died at St Peter's, Wearmouth on this day.

Born into a noble family, he became an official at the court of Oswi, King of Northumbria, before leaving in AD 653 to pursue an interest in church matters at Rome. After a second visit to Rome he became a monk at Lérins in France, where he adopted the name of Benedict.

During a fourth journey to Rome in 671, he received instructions in monastic practices and three years later Benedict oversaw construction of the monastery of St Peter of Wearmouth.

Accompanied by St Ceolfrith, his successor at Wearmouth, Benedict visited Rome again in 678 and during 682 he supervised the foundation of St Paul's monastery at Jarrow. A further journey to Rome in 687 saw him add to an impressive collection of manuscripts, relics and pictures, which he endowed to his monasteries. The Venerable Bede was one of the scholars able to make use of the fine library that Benedict had assembled.

The feast day of St Benedict Biscop is held on 12 January.

(www.britannia.com/bios/saints/benedictbiscop.html)

1609

3 July

An inquest on this day concluded that the death of stable boy Roger Skelton at Hylton Castle was 'accidental'. The castle's owner, Robert Hylton, was wielding a scythe during grass-cutting operations when Skelton was struck by the point of the tool. It is recorded in Durham Episcopal rolls, dated 6 September 1609, that Hylton was granted a free pardon.

Since those days, some four centuries ago, legends have arisen around the episode. Most versions suggest that Roger Skelton fell asleep in the warmth of the stables whilst preparing a horse for an important journey by Sir Robert. Annoyed by the delay, the knight is said to have smashed his sword into the stable lad's head, causing a fatal wound.

Before long, staff at Hylton Castle reported sightings of 'The Cauld Lad o'Hylton' and other strange incidents were attributed to his ghostly antics. Plates and dishes would be thrown around the kitchen or tools were found piled in a messy heap.

Acting on the advice of a local wise woman, staff at the castle were able to placate the ghost sufficiently to end the unnerving episodes, although reports of a ghostly presence persisted into the twentieth century.

(www.sunderlandecho.com/what-s-on/was-the-cauld-lad-murdered-after-all-11141690)

1644

4 March

On this day Scottish forces occupied Sunderland as the English Civil War reached a critical phase. Parliament and the Scots had signed the Solemn League and Covenant during September 1643 and the Army of the Covenant had gathered on the border during the closing months of that year.

Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven, was in overall command, with David Leslie as Lieutenant-General of Horse and Alexander Hamilton in charge of the artillery train, while each regiment of the Covenanter army was accompanied by a Presbyterian minister. A strict code of discipline was also issued to the Scottish forces.

Although the size of the assembled Covenanter army totalled only about 14,000 men (which was much smaller than anticipated), the Earl of Leven ordered them to cross the border into England on 19 January 1644. Their immediate objective was the City of Newcastle, which had considerable importance as a coal depot and as a supply base for weapons and supplies.

Adverse weather during the later part of January slowed the Scottish advance and the Marquis of Newcastle was able to march northwards with Royalist troops from York. It soon became clear that the City of Newcastle could now withstand a prolonged siege, so the earl led his forces southwards to complete the occupation of Sunderland.

(bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/northern-england/the-north-1644)

1717

22 June

An Act of Parliament on this day established a body to be known as 'The Commissioners of the River Wear and the Port and Haven of Sunderland' and granted it powers for twenty-one years. Members of the inaugural body included Anglican clergy, local gentry, coal owners, professional men and coal fitters (who liaised between coal owners and colliers).

Coal shipments formed a major proportion of increased trade from the port of Sunderland during the seventeenth century and, although attempts were made to improve the harbour area, the situation prompted coal merchants and coal owners to seek legislation for setting up an organisation to carry out essential work. Opposition from Tyne-based industrialists saw this move end in failure.

During 1716, Thomas Conyers and John Hedworth promoted a bill that was intended to develop Sunderland harbour and create a navigable channel of the River Wear, almost to Chester-le-Street. On this occasion opposition was overcome at the committee stage and again when the bill was considered by the House of Lords.

The first significant project carried out by the River Wear Commissioners was construction of a south pier, which began in 1723 and was completed in 1730.

(Glenn Lyndon Dodds, A History of Sunderland, 2nd edition, Albion Press, 2001)

1719

5 September

On this day, Holy Trinity church was consecrated at a time when the port of Sunderland was growing rapidly. Design work by William Etty of York made extensive use of small bricks to give a sombre appearance to the exterior, but the interior was very light and spacious with seven pairs of large windows.

Sets of tall Corinthian-style columns supported the gallery and roof and the rector, Daniel Newcombe, funded the addition of the present apse in 1735. The west gallery was incorporated into the building in 1803 and it has three coats of arms on display. In the centre are the royal arms of George I, while on one side are those of Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham and on the other the Bishop of London who consecrated the church.

During the early years Holy Trinity was at the heart of local government, with twenty-four gentlemen elected annually to regulate the parish's civil affairs under the chairmanship of the rector, but in more recent years congregations dwindled and the final service was held on 26 June 1988. Soon afterwards it was taken over by the Redundant Churches Commission and has been given Grade 1 listed building status.

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_Church,_Sunderland)

1744

1 June

On this day the merchant vessel Isabella of Sunderland did battle with a French privateer off the coast of Holland. Under the command of Robert Hornby of Stokesley, she had a crew of only five men and three boys, and armaments that amounted to just four carriage guns and two light swivel guns, along with a few blunderbusses.

Isabella was at the head of a convoy that included three smaller vessels and about to enter port when a French privateer, Marquis de Brancas, appeared from among Dutch fishing boats. With a crew of seventy-five fighting men under Captain André and weaponry including ten carriage guns, eight swivels and 300 small arms, it had all the makings of a highly uneven contest.

After Isabella had run up her ensign the Marquis de Brancas ordered her to surrender with shots across her bow. The English merchantman replied with fire from swivel guns before her deck was raked with small arms fire.

Isabella's crew had already taken cover and the next hour saw Captain Hornby skilfully avoiding attempts to board his vessel. Eventually a group of twenty Frenchmen clambered aboard, only to retreat in the face of sustained fire from blunderbusses.

Isabella lost most of her rigging as fighting continued but it was the Marquis de Brancas that broke off the momentous naval engagement.

(North Magazine)

1745

26 August

Nicholas Haddock, Keelman of Sunderland, was hanged at Durham for the murder of Thomas Alder, farmer, at Hilton Park House.

On the 21st of the preceding May, as Alder was walking in his fields, he was attacked by Haddock, who knocked him down, cut his throat from ear to ear and ripped up his belly. A young man, servant to Alder and coming that way with milk, witnessed the murder, whereupon Haddock threatened to kill him also. The lad immediately ran to Sunderland, and got assistance to apprehend the murderer. When he returned to the place where the deceased lay, the murderer was still standing by the body and swore he would kill the first person that came near him, at which the young man knocked him down with a stone, and the rest laid hold on him and secured him. Haddock, when in confinement, confessed to the crime and declared that he had no malice against Alder, nor ever saw him before in his life to his knowledge. At the place of execution, he said he was distracted at the time when he did the fatal deed.

(M.A. Richardson, The Local Historian's Table Book ..., M.A. Richardson [publisher], 1841–1846)

1775

22 March

One of Sunderland's best-known heroes, Jack Crawford, was born on this day at Pottery Bank (then called Thornhill's Bank), in the eastern sector of the town. His father trained him as a keelman but in 1786 he was press-ganged into the Royal Navy and served on HMS Venerable under Admiral Duncan, Royal Navy Commander-in-Chief of the North Seas.

His finest moment came on 11 October 1797, when the colours of Admiral Duncan on his flagship were raked by Dutch gunfire during the Battle of Camperdown. Crawford climbed the mast of HMS Venerable and, in the midst of enemy gunfire, nailed the colours to the upper mast.

His hometown recognised Crawford's bravery by presenting him with a silver medal bearing the engraving 'The town of Sunderland for gallant services the 11th October 1797.' He also received an annual pension of £30 following an audience with King George III.

After his discharge from the navy, Jack Crawford returned to Sunderland, where he worked as a keelman. In spite of his pension, he was always in poverty and died during a cholera epidemic on 10 November 1831.

During 1890, a monument showing Jack Crawford nailing the flag to the mast was erected in Sunderland's Mowbray Park.

(www.sunderland-antiquarians.org/members-area/jack-crawford)

1796

9 August

On this day the Wearmouth Bridge was officially opened by His Royal Highness Prince William, Duke of Gloucester in the presence of around 80,000 spectators. Until this time, development had been restricted by the lack of a bridge across the Wear in the locality (with the nearest at Chester-le-Street) and its design had to allow the passage of high-masted ships whilst spanning the 250ft-wide river channel. Organisation of the project was in the hands of Rowland Burdon MP, who consulted many prominent engineers, and early schemes favoured a stone bridge. However, when these became impractical, Burdon patented an iron bridge in conjunction with local engineer Thomas Wilson and financial manager Michael Scarth.

Work on bridge abutments began in October 1793 and the completed structure represented the world's longest single-span iron bridge. Total costs amounted to around £28,000 and tolls were charged for pedestrians (until 1846) and traffic (until 1885).

During 1805, stormy weather dislodged a number of the cross tubes and Robert Stephenson was in charge of major repairs between 1857 and 1859. By the 1920s the increased volume of traffic necessitated a replacement bridge, which was built around the old one, and opened on 31 October 1929.

(www.engineering-timelines.com)

1805

25 May

William Paley, eminent philosopher and clergyman, died on this day at Bishopwearmouth rectory.

Born at Peterborough in July 1743, he was educated at Giggleswick School and Christ's College, Cambridge where he became fellow in 1766 and tutor of his college two years later. After ordination in 1767, William Paley achieved a succession of influential positions within the Anglican Church.

He opposed slavery and advocated prison reform, while his stance as a philosopher was utilitarian – with the belief that humans act morally to raise their overall level of happiness. During 1776, Paley married Jane Hewitt, with whom he fathered eight children.

His utilitarianism was explained in The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, published in 1785, and A View of the Evidence of Christianity followed in 1794, but Paley's best known work which appeared some three years before his death was Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature. In this work he argued that God could be understood by studying the natural world.

Following his death, William Paley was buried in Carlisle Cathedral beside his wife.

(ncse.com/rncse/29/4/william-paley-1743-1805)

1813

29 November

Sunderland was illuminated for three nights to commemorate the glorious news of Holland and Hanover being free from domination by France (during the Napoleonic era). On this night the town shone uncommonly brilliant when numerous devices and transparencies of 'Orange Boven', 'Wellington', etc. were displayed. The only drawback was the fury of the lower orders towards that very peaceable sect, the Friends, who would not light up, and numerous were the squares of glass that were broken each night: one Friend had every square of glass in his house broken, and at one time several empty tar barrels were in a blaze before his shop and house to the great terror of the inmates.

Members of the Society of Friends were based in Sunderland from the mid-1650s and most were involved in shipping businesses. It seems that they were soon in trouble with local magistrates for their activities, but in 1670 members bought land for a burial ground and constructed a meeting house at the site during 1689.

Although it was destroyed by a mob in the same year, it was immediately rebuilt and continued in use until 1825, when larger premises were opened in Upper Nile Street.

(John Sykes, Local Records: or Historical Register of Remarkable Events ... Vol. 2, T. Fordyce, 1866)

1815

20 March

On this day Galley Gill, near Wearmouth Bridge, was the setting for violence as angry keelmen vented their fury at the construction of coal staiths linked to John Nesham's Newbottle waggonway.

Earlier plans to extend the waggonway had been shelved because of opposition from keelmen but, following the completion of Nesham's line to Galley Gill, there was widespread talk of similar projects for waggonways and staiths. Colliery owners saved considerable amounts of money with such schemes but keelmen considered that their whole way of life at communities such as Fatfield and South Biddick was being put under threat.

The keelmen's destructive rampage began with the demolition of a bridge across the gill leading to riverside staiths. They then set fire to the timbers of the staiths and wooden hoists that lowered coal waggons to spouts for pouring coal on to ships. A nearby house was destroyed by the rampaging mob and roofs were ripped from other properties. During this episode, one man was fatally injured after being crushed by falling materials and the disturbance was only quelled by the arrival of soldiers from Newcastle. Damage caused during the violence was estimated at over £6,000.

(www.twmuseums.org.uk/engage/blog/the-newbottle-waggon-rail-way-map)

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Excerpted from Sunderland in 100 Dates by Robert Woodhouse. Copyright © 2015 Robert Woodhouse. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
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