Monkwearmouth

Monkwearmouth
County Durham
St Peter's Church
Location
Grid reference:	NZ350549
Location:	54°54’53"N, 1°22’57"W
Data
Post town:	Sunderland
Postcode:	SR5, SR6
Dialling code:	0191
Local Government
Council:	City of Sunderland
Parliamentary constituency:	Sunderland North

Monkwearmouth is a village of County Durham which has over the years become merged in with Sunderland such that it is a suburb of that city. Monkwearmouth stands at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear.

This was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland, the area now known as the East End. It includes the area around St Peter's Church, founded in 674 as part of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey, and was once the main centre of Wearside shipbuilding and coalmining in the town. It is now host to a campus of the University of Sunderland and the National Glass Centre. It is served by the three Church of England churches of the Parish of Monkwearmouth.

The locals of the area were called "Barbary Coasters". The borough stretches from Wearmouth Bridge to the harbour mouth on the north side of the river and is one of the oldest parts of Sunderland.

The former railway station, closed in 1968 by the Beeching Axe, is now the Monkwearmouth Station Museum and features a restored booking office dating from the Edwardian period. Since 2002 Monkwearmouth has once again been served by rail transport, this time by way of St Peter's metro station a few hundred yards south of the old station.

The area is also the home of the Stadium of Light, which was opened on the site of the abandoned Wearmouth Colliery in July 1997, and is the home of the football club Sunderland AFC, who had previously played at Roker Park.

Wearmouth Colliery was closed in December 1993, and had been in operation for over 100 years.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Monkwearmouth)