Here, in no particular order, are 13 things you may or may not have been aware of.
1. You can see stalactites in Sunderland
Behind the Marina Activities Centre in Roker is the North Dock Tufa, a set of calcite stalactites created over the centuries by dripping water. It would be quite some task to find out where the water comes from and it was only discovered in 1992 when some old huts were removed. However, some claim to have known about it before that. Tufa looks especially beautiful when lit up at night. It’s free to view and is open day and night. Photo: Sunderland Echo
2. Wearmouth Colliery was the deepest mine in the world
There can’t be a person living in Sunderland who doesn’t know about the city’s mining history, but not everyone would know that the area was once home to the deepest mine in the world. When Wearmouth Colliery began producing coal in 1835, it was the deepest mine in the world at 481m, almost a third of a mile. Eventually there were three pits on the site, imaginatively entitled A, B and C. In December 1993 Wearmouth became the last deep coal mine of the County Durham coalfield to close. The Stadium of Light was built on the site next to the three shafts leading deep below the earth. References to how far down you can go have not been lost on those who regularly attend the stadium. Photo: Sunderland Echo
3. The first stained glass windows were made at St Peter’s ... probably
The earliest known reference to true stained glass windows is from 675 AD, when Benedict Biscop imported French craftsmen to do the glazing of the monastery of St Peter’s in Monkwearmouth. In the 1970s hundreds of pieces of coloured glass and lead, dating back to the 7th century, were discovered there and at St Paul’s in Jarrow. St Peter’s was built a decade before St Paul’s, so Sunderland was presumably first. The city’s glass making heritage is now celebrated at the National Glass Centre, just a stone’s throw from St Peter’s Church in Monkwearmouth; for now. Photo: Sunderland Echo
4. Sunderland was one of Britain’s most heavily bombed places in World War Two
The Germans were well aware of the astonishing shipbuilding capacity on the River Wear and the town was consequently targeted. Sunderland’s shipyards produced a quarter of Britain’s tonnage of ships during the war, as shipyard girls stepped in to keep production going while the male workforce fought in the war. A total of 267 people were killed in Sunderland by the Luftwaffe, with 90% of the town’s houses damaged by bombs, 1,000 of which were totally destroyed. In Easington 36 died in air raids. In Seaham it was 51 with 36 of them in a single raid in 1943. Photo: Sunderland Echo