40 things you didn’t know about Sunderland
The city / history
1. Sunderland is home to 275,000 residents with more than two million people living within a 30
minute radius.
2. Sunderland is a city with a difference - a modern, bustling centre that is balanced with a
relaxing green environment, stunning coastal scenery and a refreshing outlook to life. It is one
of the few cities in the UK to have a river and beautiful coastline Surrounded by easily
accessible countryside, Sunderland offers a range of outstanding heritage, cultural and
sporting attractions.
3. Sunderland has signed a Friendship Agreement with Washington DC which makes us the only
city in Europe to enjoy such a relationship with the world’s most powerful city. Washington Old
Hall is home to the direct ancestors of the first president of the United States of America.
4. Sunderland signed a groundbreaking Friendship Agreement in 2009 with Harbin - one of
China’s biggest and fastest growing cities.As well as friendship agreements with Washington
DC and Harbin in China, Sunderland is twinned with Essen in German and St Nazaire in
France.
5. Perhaps Sunderland’s most prominent landmark is Penshaw Monument – it even appears on
Sunderland AFC’s crest. It was built in 1844 in honour of the first Earl of Durham, John George
Lambton. Penshaw was modelled on the Theseion, the Temple of Theseus in Athens. It stands
magnificently above the city on a limestone hill in the middle of the Great North Forest and can
be seen as far afield as Durham Cathedral and the North Pennines.
6. Sunderland had a world famous reputation for building ships. Ship building as first recorded on
the River Wear in 1346, and the city went on to build the biggest and best ships in the world.
Our ship building heritage is being celebrated in a new public space, Keel Square, which
includes the Keel Line, an engraved list of over 8000 of the most significant ships built in
Sunderland.
7. The Anglo-Saxon church of St Peter’s in Monkwearmouth was where the Venerable Bede lived
and studied. Original parts of the monastery are still standing in-situ.
8. Joseph Swan, who invented the electric light bulb independently of Thomas Edison, was born
in 1828 at Pallion Hall, Sunderland. He also invented artificial silk, bromide photographic
paper, the lead storage battery and the carbon printing process.
Investment / industry
9. A total of 80 companies originating in twenty different countries have chosen to locate in the
city, together employing more than 25,000 people.
10. Over the past five years, there have been around 200 strategic projects, creating more than
8,800 jobs and bringing about £1.3 billion of investment. BAE Systems is the latest world class
manufacturing company to move into the city of Sunderland. BAE’s new purpose built plant will
house a forge, machining centre, and heat and surface treatment plants as it manufactures
casing for Ministry of Defence ammunition orders.
11. Sunderland has gained a worldwide reputation as a centre for automotive manufacturing,
employing 15,000 people in the sector in the city alone. Nissan Sunderland represents 1.4% of
all UK manufactured exports and will build the UK’s newest brand in 23 years with their luxury
infinity model. There have been a number of investments to date including £37m from Nissan
for an extension and 5200 tons press to build the Infiniti - the first large scale manufacturing of
a new car brand in the UK for 23 years. The plant currently employs more than 6,800 people
and produces over 5,200 cars a year
12. New figures from the North East Automotive Alliance show that 26,000 people are directly
employed by the industry in the North East and another 141,000 jobs are impacted by it. Four
and a half years after the launch of the Nissan LEAF, the world’s first mass-market zeroemission vehicle, it remains the best-selling electric vehicle of all time, with more than 180,000
units sold.
13. Sunderland leads the country for the proportion of surviving start-ups in 2011 reaching £1m
turnover by 2014 in selected ‘primary urban areas’ in England, which includes cities such as
London, Manchester, Birmingham.
14. Sunderland leads the North East region for the Proportion of Fast-Growing Businesses (201114). These fastest growing businesses in the UK are delivering jobs and revenues as well as
wealth for their owners outside London and the South East.
15. Sunderland has a track record of IT success. Sunderland Software City is a regional scheme to
encourage the North East’s IT industry and make the area an attractive location for software
businesses and £10m Sunderland Software Centre for software businesses opened in the city
centre in 2012.
16. Sunderland enhanced its reputation as a leader in the use of new technology by being the first
local authority in England to implement a new ‘public access’ software system to enable
residents, councillors and others to make it easier to look at planning applications on-line. The
IDOX public access software solution is radically changing the way in which the City Council
engages with planning stakeholders in the city.
17. Rainton Bridge South is one of the best connected e-business parks in Europe. It represents
£100 million of investment and is expected to create more than 4,000 jobs.
18. Sunderland boasts an office building with the largest integrated photovoltaic (solar panelled)
wall in Europe. The Solar Office at Doxford International is capable of generating significant
quantities of electrical power.
19. More than £600million is being invested in housing in Sunderland alone, creating the most
affordable houses and flats in England.
Culture
20. The Stadium of Light is the magnificent home of Sunderland AFC, widely regarded as one of
the best stadia in Europe. Standing on the banks of the River Wear the stadium’s design drew
inspiration from Sunderland’s proud industrial heritage in glass making, shipbuilding and coal
mining.
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21. In recent years Sunderland is the only city in the North East where you can see pop and rock
concerts in a stadium. Artists include Take That, Coldplay, Bon Jovi, Rhianna, Foo Fighters
and One Direction at the Stadium of Light.
22. Sunderland’s Aquatic Centre is the region’s only 50-metre swimming pool between Leeds and
Edinburgh. The flagship pool was a £20 million project which opened next to the Stadium of
Light in April 2008..
23. The Sunderland International Airshow is the biggest free airshow in Europe and is now in its
27th year.
24. Sunderland is the home of The National Glass Centre - the only UK centre celebrating the
history of glass making and providing a world focus for glass making.
25. Sunderland marks the easterly end of the 140-mile C2C (Coast to Coast) route. The C2C cycle
trail from Whitehaven in Cumbria to Sunderland is Britain’s most popular long distance cycle
route, with between 12,000 and 15,000 cyclists completing it every year.
26. Blockbuster West End shows, most recently The Lion King, Jersey Boys and Wicked have
been staged at the Sunderland Empire, the biggest theatre between Edinburgh and
Manchester.
27. Sunderland has the premier artificial indoor climbing wall in Europe.
28. The fascinating facsimile of the Lindisfarne Gospels is available to view at Sunderland’s City
Library and Arts Centre.
29. Mowbray Park in Sunderland city centre is one of the oldest municipal parks in the North East.
Now restored to its former Victorian splendour, it has an intriguing array of art works
celebrating the city’s connection with Lewis Carroll who wrote his famous poem Jabberwocky
whilst staying in the city. The park was voted ‘Best Park in Britain’ in 2008.
30. Herrington Country Park comprises of eight lakes, a 3000 seat amphitheatre, 12 km of
footpaths/cycleways, 5 km of bridleway, 40 hectares of locally native trees and 10 km of
hedgerow, with 333,000 trees and shrubs intermingled with large outdoor sculptures, set
among landscaped scenery.
31. The Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art at Sunderland’s City Library and Arts Centre
attracts exhibitions from promising artists from the UK and abroad.
32. Sunderland is the home to one of the best collections of LS Lowry paintings in England. One of
the nations best loved artists, Lowery thought of Sunderland as his second home.
33. One of the oldest windmills and best preserved relics of Britain’s industrial heritage is Fulwell
Mill, a Grade 11 listed building dating from 1821.
34. James Herriot, the man responsible for an entire generation wanting to become vets, was not
Scottish as many people believe; he was born in Sunderland as James Alfred Wight on
October 3 1916.
35. Other celebrities who can claim a Wearside pedigree are James Bolam, cricketer Bob Willis
and Frank Wilson. Frank Wilson became Prime Minister of Australia in the years before WW1
and is proof that Wearsiders are destined to go far.
36. Sunderland has produced a pope – almost! History records Nicholas Breakspear (Adrian lV) as
the only English pope but in the 14th Century the Great Schism produced two rival pontiffs. The
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legitimate line was supported by the French but there was a succession of antipopes backed
by the Holy Roman Emperor. The first antipope, named Clement Vll, was Robert of Geneva
who, before his elevation, served as a Wearmouth parish priest.
37. HMS Ocean, the Royal Navy’s largest ship is Sunderland’s adopted warship. HMS Ocean’s
crew were granted the Freedom of the City in July 2004 and returned most recently in May
2015.
Current / future plans
38. A £100m civil engineering project – the New Wear Crossing – is now underway, building a
cable-stayed bridge and approach roads between Castletown on the north bank and Pallion on
the south bank of the River Wear. It’s due for completion in early 2018.
39. The city is hosting the Tall Ships Race in July 2018 – more than 70 sailing vessels are
expected to be docking at the Port of Sunderland and along the waterfront.
40. Sunderland is joining the bidding for UK Capital of Culture status in 2021.
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