Sunderland, County Durham : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Sunderland. You may be able to find further references to Sunderland in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Sunderland parliamentary and municipal borough Bartholomew
SUNDERLAND a town, a parish, and a district Imperial
Wearmouth Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Sunderland within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Charles Wesley Jan. 1 - Aug. 26, 1751: London to Bristol and the north 3
George Head Durham Coast 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 9: Eastern Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland 2
Robert Gammage Touring the Welsh border in 1852 and 1853 2
George Head Whitehaven 2
John Wesley 1757-9: "I do Indeed Live by Preaching"; Advice to Travelers; French Prisoners 2
William Camden Durham, Lancashire and Westmorland 1
Charles Wesley May 17 - Aug. 28, 1743: Bristol to Newcastle, then Cornwall 1
Charles Wesley Sept. 2 - Dec. 30, 1745: Yorkshire and Durham 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 5 (London), Part 2: The City 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 10: Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumberland 1
Robert Gammage Hampshire, Lancashire, and final reflections 1
George Head Leeds 1
George Head Newcastle upon Tyne 1
John Wesley 1774-6: Wesley Arrested; A Terrible Ride; A Methodist Isaac Newton; the American War 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Millfield 0 2
Deptford 0 2
Pallion 0 2
Monkwearmouth 2 2
Bishop Wearmouth 0 2
Hendon 0 2
Monkwearmouth Shore 0 1
Southwick on Wear 0 2
Maiden Paps 0 2
Ford 0 2
Tunstall 0 2
Fulwell 0 2
South Hylton 0 1
Silksworth 0 2
Hylton 1 6
Ryhope 0 2
Offerton 0 2
Herrington 0 2
East Boldon 0 1
Boldon 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Sunderland. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
SUNDERLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
WEARMOUTH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WIRAN MUTH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.