Sunderland City Self Guided Tour of Sunderland East End on Wearside

This Sunderland City Self Guided Tour of Sunderland East End on Wearside starts at the Boar's Head in Sunderland East End which has many historic connections to slavery and the slave trade in Youll’s Passage alongside, which will be explained in more detail later.
Walk downhill to Hartley Street and up to Keelboat Lodge on the left.
Cross over to Church Walk and Trafalgar Square, a housing complex for retired seamen, built in 1840, four years before the better known Trafalgar Square in London. There’s a commemorative tablet in the grounds of Trafalgar Square to commemorate all of the Sunderland and Wearside Seafarers who lost their lives in the Battle of Trafalgar, another part of the Sunderland history which is little talked about today.
Continuing our self guided tour of Sunderland East End further along Church Walk towards the Holy Trinity Church on our left is Sunderland Donnison Centre, built in 1798 as a school for girls and now an excellent Community Heritage Centre.
Next on our self guided tour of Sunderland East End is Holy Trinity Church, a grade one listed building, one of the oldest buildings in Sunderland East End dated 1719 and formally used as the Sunderland City Library, fire station and Sunderland town council meetings.
For anyone who is researching Sunderland history, a visit to Holy Trinity Church in Sunderland East End is a must.
It’s also in Holy Trinity Church where details of one of the heroes of Sunderland City is recorded, that of Jack Crawford, a local Sunderland hero from the battle of Camperdown in 1797.
There’s a statue of this in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church known as Gray Memorial Gardens, and he is buried nearby along with 100,000 others who all succumbed to cholera disease in 1838.
Cholera disease was reportedly brought into the Sunderland East End on ships, as Sunderland City in those days was a very busy sea port, and cholera disease at that time was a pandemic.
Not part of this self guided tour but close by is Sunderland City boy’s orphanage on the edge of Sunderland Town Moor. This boy’s orphanage trained the youngsters in seamanship, giving the pupils a good start to their early working life.
But back at Holy Trinity Church, we cross the lane to Trinity Square and the former original Sunderland Hospital dating from 1876 and now a private dwelling.
Another grade one listed building to view on this self guided tour of Sunderland City is the Masonic Temple in Lombard Street, home to the Freemasons of Sunderland, still in regular use today and this Masonic Temple is the oldest one in existence. The Freemasons of Sunderland City rent their function room out to anyone on Wearside for public gatherings.
Back to our self guided tour to the Angels Pub, a Bikers Bar in Church Street, built in 1711 as a grand family residence.
Cross the lane to continue the self guided tour to the Maritime Heritage Museum, recording the Sunderland history of ship building. Ship building construction in Sunderland City was one of the largest employers, and it’s all recorded here in the Maritime Heritage Museum on Church Street and well worth a visit.
Now walk down to the river for the next place of interest on this self guided tour of Sunderland East End to Sunderland Fish Quay where the Wearside public can buy freshly caught fish.
Now return to the Boar's Head, passing Bulls Lane dating from 1690 and head up Youll’s Passage, reputedly linked to the Sunderland slave trade where slavery was rife, where drunken locals of Wearside were kidnapped and made to walk the plank to the ship which would be their fate for a number of years.
If you enjoyed this video of a Sunderland City Self Guided Tour of Sunderland East End on Wearside you may also like this video about Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens https://youtu.be/fCcNOcOtIXs.

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