Southwick, Sunderland

The Queen Alexandra Bridge is a road traffic, pedestrian and former railway bridge spanning the River Wear in North East England, linking the Deptford and Southwick areas of Sunderland. The steel truss bridge was designed by Charles A. Harrison (a nephew of Robert Stephenson's assistant). It was built by Sir William Arrol between 1907 and 1909 and officially opened by The Earl of Durham, on behalf of Queen Alexandra on 10 June 1909. In 1899 the North Eastern Railway and the Sunderland Corporation agreed to build the bridge to improve communications across the river and to connect the coalfields of Annfield Plain and Washington with Sunderland's south docks. Before the completion of the bridge, road traffic crossing the river had to use one of two ferries which crossed below near to where the bridge is today. As the bridge was due to be built near to the successful shipyards of the Wear, a clause in the North Eastern Railway Act 1900 required that only one arch span be built over the river to give a clearance of 85 ft (26 m) above high water level. The approaches to the bridge were completed in 1907 by the Mitchell Brothers of Glasgow and the bridge proper comprises three 200-foot (61 m) land spans (weighing 1,000 tons of steel each) and a 300-foot (91 m) river span (weighing 2,600 tons of steel) and was the heaviest bridge in the United Kingdom at the time. The bridge was built from each side of the river and the two halves came together at noon on 15 October 1908. In all, a total of 8,500 tons of steel, 4,500 tons of granite, 60,000 tons of red sandstone from Dumfries, and 350,000 bricks were used and the cost of completion was £450,000 (equivalent to £45.5 million in 2016). The bridge also housed gas and water mains and in later years, high voltage electricity cables and a pumped rising-main for sewage. About six million tons of coal passed over the upper-deck annually for export but the trade rapidly declined at the end of the 1910s. For the last few years only one train per day passed over the bridge. The last goods train ran over in 1921, but the lower-deck continues as a valuable road link. In the Second World War, the upper-deck was used as a searchlight and anti-aircraft platform. The railway and decking at each end of the bridge were finally removed near to the end of the 20th century. A large free standing brick and stone viaduct fragment remains on the north side of the Bridge. From 21 March 2005, the bridge had been restricted to southbound traffic whilst repainting and repair work was carried out on the 96-year-old structure, which was due to take almost a year to complete. It reopened for both lanes of traffic on 12 October 2006, having been partly closed for 18 months and costing £6.3m in repairs.Previously classified as part of the A1231, the road across the bridge was reclassified as the B1539 when the Northern Spire Bridge was opened to traffic on 29 August 2018.

Carley Hill is a suburb of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England.

Sunderland Power Station was a coal-fired power station situated on the bank of the River Wear, in the city centre of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, North East England. The station was initially built in 1901 by the Sunderland Corporation and had several extensions added.

Pallion is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving the suburb of Pallion, City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 31 March 2002, following the opening of the Wearside extension – a project costing in the region of £100 million. The station was used by 92,060 passengers in 2017–18, making it the least-used station on the network.

Sun FM is a radio station serving Sunderland and large parts of County Durham in England and owned by Nation Broadcasting. It is also available in Tyne and Wear. Sun FM broadcasts on FM, as well as online. The station plays a mix of contemporary and classic popular music alongside local news and travel.

Millfield is a Tyne and Wear Metro station, serving Sunderland Royal Hospital and the suburb of Millfield, City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. It joined the network on 31 March 2002, following the opening of the extension from Pelaw to South Hylton.

Sunderland Royal Hospital is an acute general hospital in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. It is managed by the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

Sunderland Aquatic Centre is an indoor sports complex next to the Stadium of Light in the city of Sunderland, England. It contains an Olympic-size swimming pool, a diving pool and a gymnasium. It is the only full Olympic-standard pool in North East England between Glasgow and Leeds. The centre was opened on 18 April 2008 with a fireworks and lights display. Anne, Princess Royal visited the Aquatic Centre on 22 January 2009 and gave it a second 'opening' ceremony. A third ceremony was held in the presence of the Mayor of Sunderland Mary Smith later that year. It replaced the swimming pool and gymnasium facilities at the Crowtree Leisure Centre which was opened in 1978 by Prince Charles. The pool at Crowtree had a tropical beach style with a slide, two diving pools and a wave machine, and was not an Olympic-standard pool. The centre was closed to the general public in October 2011 and demolished in 2013.On 16 June 2012, the Olympic torch was carried through the Aquatic Centre as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay. In February 2017, Sunderland City Council announced that the centre would have to be closed for up to nine months to make structural repairs to the roof, after leaks were reported. They also confirmed they were taking legal action against builder Balfour Beatty. In August 2018, an out-of-court agreement was reached, and Balfour Beatty committed to carry out a programme of work to repair the roof.

Millfield is a suburb and electoral ward of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built after the Victorian Era and are mostly built up of large terraced houses built for working-class people of the 20th century. When first built Millfield was located near the heart of Sunderland City Centre, but now has expanded. It now links Pallion with the City Centre. Millfield like Pallion is built very near the bank of the River Wear but then extends to Chester Road (The largest road in Sunderland & Washington). Also located in Millfeild is an Aldi Supermarket and right next to the supermarket is the Millfield Metro station. Millfield was part of the Sunderland South parliamentary constituency for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Millfield is now part of Sunderland Central.

Pallion is a suburb and electoral ward in North West Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era and consist of large terraced houses built for shipbuilders, but also smaller one-storey cottages in other areas for local workers (the shipyard industry has now long gone). The place-name 'Pallion' is first attested in 1328, where it appears as le Pavylion. This is a French name meaning 'the Pavilion'.On the edge of the parish (on the bank of the River Wear) once stood Pallion Hall, the childhood home of Sir Joseph Swan, developer of the lightbulb. The house was demolished in 1901. Near this part of the area is a retail park, Pallion Metro station and an industrial estate. The new Northern Spire Bridge crosses the Wear just to the north of here. Pallion was also the home of the infamous New Monkey club, which had shaped rave culture in the North East. The club was shut down in 2006 after a drugs raid where there were 18 arrests. 165 officers stormed the club, later the club was forced to shut down.The electoral ward of Pallion was a safe seat for the Labour Party from its creation in the 1970s until early 2018, when it was won by Liberal Democrat campaigner Martin Haswell.[1] Pallion's ethnicity is very similar to the Sunderland average.

Red House Academy (RHA, formerly Hylton Red House School) is an 11–16 mixed secondary school with academy status in Hylton Red House, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly a community school and adopted its present name after becoming an academy in 2009. It is part of the Northern Education Trust.

Monkwearmouth Colliery (or Wearmouth Colliery) was a major North Sea coal mine located on the north bank of the River Wear, located in Sunderland. It was the largest mine in Sunderland and one of the most important in County Durham in northeast England. First opened in 1835 and in spite of the many accidents at the pit, the mine was the last to remain operating in the County Durham Coalfield. The last shift left the pit on 10 December 1993, ending over 80 years of commercial coal mining in the region. The Colliery site was cleared soon afterwards, and the Stadium of Light, the stadium of Sunderland A.F.C., was built over it, opening in July 1997 to replace nearby Roker Park.