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Claxheugh

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Claxheugh
Claxheugh

Claxheugh ( KLATCH-əf) is an area of South Hylton, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The area is primarily known for the large, limestone and sandstone cliff formed in the Late Permian period, known as Claxheugh Rock, which forms part of the Ford Formation. Stone from the rock was quarried in the 19th century. The rock is often referred to as 'klachy rock' by the locals. Claxheugh Rock is known as the rock of the wear by some and is home to many birds and wild animals, since 2003 the population of rabbit has decreased by over 60% by poachers and hunters.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Claxheugh (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Claxheugh
St Luke's Road, Sunderland Ford Estate

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 54.91 ° E -1.436 °
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St Luke's Road

St Luke's Road
SR4 0AL Sunderland, Ford Estate
England, United Kingdom
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Claxheugh
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Castletown, Sunderland

Castletown is a suburb of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. A former mining community, the Hylton Colliery was located at the east end of the village; it lies north of the River Wear, and is near to Hylton Castle and Washington. At Hylton Riverside, on the eastern fringe of Castletown, there is a large retail park. There is a large-scale redevelopment project, aimed at modernising the former pit houses and the area around the Aviary Estate. Since 2011 there have been further developments in the east part of the village. The Aviary area has been completely demolished and a new housing estate has replaced both sides of the main street. This site was re-developed by the Gentoo Group. At the opposite end of Castletown is the newer development of Fulford Grange. Currently, the records state that Castletown is the least ethnically diverse area in Sunderland, with 99.3% of the population being white. Despite its proximity to Sunderland, until 1967 this colliery village was under the administrative control of Durham County Council and was part of the Sunderland Rural District Council. This was because it was a fairly isolated community until the extensive council house building of the fifties and sixties at the Red House, Hylton Castle and Town end Farm Estates effectively joining the settlement to the rest of Sunderland's new northern suburbs. The Northern Spire Bridge, joining Castletown to Pallion, opened in August 2018. During the search for the Yorkshire Ripper, the accent of "Wearside Jack", the author of a hoax letter claiming to be from the Ripper, was identified by the forensic linguist Stanley Ellis as that of the Castletown area. The hoaxer was eventually revealed to have come from nearby Pennywell.

Hylton Castle
Hylton Castle

Hylton Castle ( HIL-tən) is a stone castle in the North Hylton area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally built from wood by the Hilton (later Hylton) 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. One of the castle's main features is the range of heraldic devices found mainly on the west façade, which have been retained from the castle's original construction. They depict the coats of arms belonging to local gentry and peers of the late 14th to early 15th centuries and provide an approximate date of the castle's reconstruction from wood to stone. Today, the castle is owned by English Heritage, a charity which manages the historical environment of England. The surrounding parkland is maintained by a community organisation. The castle and its chapel are protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. In February, 2016, plans were announced to turn the castle into a community facility and visitor attraction, with the Heritage Lottery Fund awarding £2.9 million, and Sunderland Council £1.5 million, to provide classrooms, a cafe and rooms for exhibitions, meetings and events.

Pennywell

Pennywell is one of the UK's largest post-war social housing schemes, and is situated in the central-west area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Pennywell is the largest local authority housing estate in the City of Sunderland. The estate mostly built during the late 1940s and early 1950s to replace 19th century slums in the centre of Sunderland. The name Pennywell is of Celtic origin and is thought to mean "wellspring at the top of the hill".The Pennywell estate consists of nearly 3,000 homes, around 11% of which are privately owned and has a total population of 10,709 This figure is considerably lower than in previous decades, when the Pennywell area housed over 20,000 people. Pennywell has traditionally been associated with high crime rates since the estate was completed in 1953. Knife crime and anti-social behaviour have been a growing problem since the 1990s. The estate was the scene of a murder when 22-year-old Kevin Johnson was fatally stabbed outside his house on Patrick Road in the early hours of 19 May 2007. Three teenagers were convicted of the murder six months later and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the trial, it was revealed that after stabbing Kevin Johnson, the three defendants had gone on to attack another man in the area and also damaged two cars. Mr Johnson's family later had two applications for criminal injuries compensation rejected on the basis that he had contributed to his own death by leaving the safety of his home to confront the teenagers about their noisy behaviour. A third application for compensation was successful and the Johnson family received £5,500 from a scheme which could already pay a maximum of £500,000 to claimants.In April 1994, The Independent newspaper condemned Pennywell as a "no go area" and one of the worst places in Britain, highlighting an unemployment rate as 19% (around twice the national average) and that attacks on police and vandalism of police vehicles were a frequent occurrence in the area.As a result of these events, the Gentoo Group are undertaking a massive programme of renewal and regeneration for the area which will provide a high standard of modern housing for social housing tenants and homeowners alike. The first phases of this plan, at Waterford Green, are nearing completion. An industrial area on the western edge of the suburb has, among other businesses Calsonic's injection moulding plant and the Sunderland Echo building. Pennywell Comprehensive School was built in 1967 and remained open until 2008. It was finally demolished in 2009 and replaced with a new facility on the same site – Academy 360. Pupils attending the comprehensive school were members of one of four houses - Stratford (green), Harwell (blue), Everest (yellow) and Runnymede (red). The school boasted excellent sporting facilities including several full size football/rugby pitches, an all-weather athletics track, a fully equipped sports hall (incorporating five-a-side pitches, basketball/netball courts & cricket nets), fully equipped indoor gymnasium with balance beams/climbing ropes/trampoline harnesses, outdoor cricket pitches, tennis courts and several tarmac yard areas with basketball courts. Classrooms were predominantly located in four five-storey tower blocks (B, C, D & E blocks) and included science laboratories, art studios, home economics kitchens and IT suites. The new school (Academy 360) has three houses, Oxford (blue), Mowbray (green), Doxford (red). Pennywell School was the birthplace of the world famous Fishing group WEARAnglers and Pennywell itself is home to two of its members (Rob Stevens & Dainton Ould), the other two members live in South Hylton.