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Photo: FropFrop, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Shell of a castle gatehouse built in 1400 and much re-modelled in later centuries. The rest of the castle has gone.
Hylton Castle is a stone castle in the North Hylton area of Sunderland, England. Originally built from wood by the Hilton family shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066, it was later rebuilt in stone in the late 14th to early 15th century. The castle underwent major changes to its interior and exterior in the 18th century and it remained the principal seat of the Hylton family until the death of the last Baron in 1746. It was then Gothicised but neglected until 1812, when it was revitalised by a new owner. Standing empty again until the 1840s, it was briefly used as a school until it was purchased again in 1862. The site passed to a local coal company in the early 20th century and was taken over by the state in 1950.
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NELSAM
So this is what became of Sunderland Airport. Aircraft and military vehicle museum, with a collection of 30 mostly military aircraft, plus a reconstructed World War II-era street. They don't have a Sunderland flying boat: these were named for the city, but made by Short Brothers in Kent. Dogs on leads welcome.
Church of St Michaels and All Angels
This Anglican church is 20th century, preserving several features from its predecessor, which succumbed to mining subsidence.
formerly Monkwearmouth Station Museum
Small museum of football colours and memorabilia in a former railway station. This was built in 1848 in NatWest cod-classical style, but it was too small and the station moved 200 yards south to St Peters. From 1973 to 2017 it was a railway museum then took on its present guise.
It stands on the site of Monkwearmouth monastery. Only the porch and west wall survive from the monastery of 674 AD, which formed a combined abbey with Jarrow, and was the base of the Venerable Bede. The exterior is mostly 13th / 14th century and the interior was re-done in the 1870s and again following arson in 1984. It remains an Anglican church and is open to look around, and use the simple cafe, M-F 10:30AM-2:30PM.
Glass occurs naturally and has been manufactured for 6000 years, but transparent glass was first made from around 1500 BC. The Romans had a big glassworks in Trier in Germany, and this knowhow and technology.spread across northern Europe. Benedict Biscop (628-690) was abbot of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory and brought over French glaziers to make abbey windows, the first known manufacture in Britain. Glass became a major industry in Sunderland from the 18th century, thanks to local coal, and sand brought as ballast in Baltic shipping, but the city's last glassworks closed in 2007. This centre, part of the University of Sunderland, has a museum and exhibitions of glassware.
is the nearest sea-side strip to town. Roker Pier was built from 1865 as a breakwater. It's 1198 ft (365 m) long; the lighthouse (completed 1903) is still in use. St Andrew's Church, north on Talbot Rd, is an elegant Arts & Crafts building of 1907, open M-F 10AM-noon.