Southwick, County Durham

Southwick
County Durham
Darwin Street, Southwick
Location
Grid reference:	NZ381584
Location:	54°55’10"N, 1°24’22"W
Data
Population:	10,535  (2011)
Post town:	Sunderland
Postcode:	SR5
Local Government
Council:	Sunderland
Parliamentary constituency:	Sunderland Central

Southwick is a village of County Durham which has become subsumed in the conurbation in the north-east of the county so as to become in effect a suburb of Sunderland. It stands on the north bank of the River Wear.

Southwick's neighbours are Castletown and Hylton Red House to the west; Monkwearmouth to the east; greenbelt farmland and the suburb of Carley Hill to the north; and the Wear to the south. The Queen Alexandra Bridge links Southwick to Pallion and central Sunderland.

The village is centered on its village green, a commercial area containing three listed buildings; a Second World War war memorial, The Tramcar Inn a public house built in 1906, and a memorial lamp-post built in 1912. The Indices of Deprivation published by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions in 2000 however placed Southwick as the most deprived of the 25 wards in the City of Sunderland and amongst of the worst in the whole country.

Name

The name 'Southwick' is commonplace, and in most instances simply means 'south village'. Here though the name appears to have a different origin, coming from the Old Norse for "clearing by a marsh", from sogr ('moss, marsh, swamp', like the modern "soggy")" and þveit (the common placename element 'thwaite'), meaning 'clearing". The name is recorded as Suvveite in 1189.

History

Quarrying has taken place in the area for many centuries but it was not until the 17th century that large quarries were built and production substantially increased. Wagonways were built to transport limestone from the quarries.

1698 saw the establishment of glassmaking in Southwick with the opening of Suddick Glasshouse. This was followed by Wearmouth Crown Glassworks in 1786. Southwick Bottleworks was a significant employer from 1846 to 1917.

Although it is likely that shipbuilding had taken place earlier the first registered shipbuilder was Henry Debord who was in business from 1785 to 1797. William Pickersgill & Sons Ltd opened a shipyard in Southwick in 1845. At the time of a company merger with Austin's in 1954 the yard was redeveloped at a cost of £3 million. It closed in 1988.

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