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Sunderland

Sunderland maps

Historic maps of Sunderland and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.   View all Sunderland maps

Sunderland photos

We have no photos of Sunderland, although we do have photos of these nearby places:

Bassenthwaite| Ireby| Aspatria| Uldale| Cockermouth| Boltongate| Brigham| Allonby

Sunderland area books

Displaying 1 of 10 books about Sunderland and the local area.   View all books for this area

Memories of Sunderland

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Cumbria memories

Great-Grandparents Marriage

The Church c1955
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My great-grandparents Robert Close and Annie Head were married at this church on January 8th 1888.

Spyatry in The 70s

Queen Street c1960
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My dad had the grocers shop opposite the gift shop, there was a shoe shop a childrens clothes shop, a launderette, a wool shop, Mrs Tinnion with her small Pekinese dogs, Bobby Askews the hardware shop who sold absolutely everything anyone ever needed. The huge ugly car park was built and some smaller houses were pulled down. Robinsons fish and chip shop, the best in Cumberland.  On the occasions I drive through now, they've all gone, closed down and are houses.  The pictures at the top of the town with Ella getting the latest releases as soon as she could, usually much later than release date. The cafe with the juke box and the penny ice lollies. Posh upstairs pictures 12p bottom seats, many with springs sticking out of them, 10p.  Dear old Peter the lollypop man who was so kind to all the children each morning. Billy Gibson who sat by the wall, talking to everyone.

Uldale - The War Years.

My mother and I lived in Uldale during the war years, while my father was abroad with the RAF. I recall there were only two cars in the village. We had no electricity, we had paraffin lamps for light, cooking was done on an open fire and oven. My mother always said the cakes were always perfect. We had a radio, this was run on batteries that were brought from the Uldale post office just across the road, they were recharged, large glass-like things that would nearly always run out half way through the play or programme that Mum was listening to. I recall going to the village school just past the post office on the right. There was only one classroom for all the children, youngest at the front (that was me) with the eldest going to the back. It was felt that if you learnt to read and write you were doing well. The school teacher had a fierce face. My father home from leave arrived one day... Read more

The George And Dragon Pub

I was born in the pub in 1939 and when I was eight months old my parents sold the pub to the Workington Brewery and we moved to the Qeens Head at Distington.

Hundredth Anniversary of Wordsworth's Death

From The Park 1906
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I was born in Bridge Street and went to Fairfield School, or "Fairfield Junior Mixed" as it was called when it became Co-Ed in about 1948. I remember the whole class having to walk up to Harris Park and stand round the fountain shown in the picture. Unfortunately we had to hold a daffodil during the walk and then recite Daffodils when we were round the fountain. I noticed when I was in Cockermouth a few weeks ago that the fountain has moved onto the Main Street  into the Memorial Garden opposite Wordsworth House. The Garden is on the site of my grandparents house and the Wordsworth tavern.

BRIGHAM CHURCH

St Bridget's Church 1906
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Brigham is a village a couple of miles west of Cockermouth. Much of the church at Brigham is Norman, dating to 1080 and has connections to the Wordsworth family. At the time the church was built Cockermouth was part of the Brigham Dioscese. My connection with the church and the village is that I was christened there in 1942, grew up as part of the choir and for a short time deputised as stand-in organist when Elsie Beattie was unavailable. It is a beautiful church close to the River Derwent.

Jennings Brewery

The buildings in front of the Castle are part of the famous Jennings brewery, built in 1887 and still thriving, albeit no longer independent, but part of the Marstons empire.

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