The history of Mowbray Park

Mowbray Park. Image courtesy of R J McNaughton through creative commons.

Sunderland’s Mowbray Park dates back to the 1830’s and is one of the oldest parks in the North East. It was also voted the best park in Britain in 2008.

The park came about after the first cholera epidemic in 1831 when a health inspector suggested building a leafy green area in the town. The government provided a grant of  £750 to buy a £2,000 plot of land owned by the Mowbray family on which the park could be built. The park was named after the Mowbray family in recognition of their contribution to the local community.

Work initially began in the mid 1850’s on what was to be known as ‘The Peoples Park’. The aim being to provide the Victorian community with a small green area on which they could spend time.

The park was opened by Lord Mayor of Sunderland, John Candlish, on 21st 1857. On the opening day many shops closed early and thousands of people attended the ceremony. Following the great use of the park an extension was opened in 1866 which featured a lake and terrace, then in 1879 the Winter Gardens Museum was added. (click here for my post on the Winter Gardens Museum)

Statue of John Candlish. Image courtesy of Craigy144 through creative commons.

There is a statue in the centre of the park to commemorate John Candlish who was mayor of Sunderland from 1866 to 1874.

 During the Second World War the park was hit numerous times by bombs and many of the iron structures were taken away and melted down for weapons. The open spaces that were left were then converted into vegetable patches.

After the war, the park was neglected. The civic centre was built on the West side of the park and the area became known for antisocial behaviour and considered an unsafe area. In 1993 over £13,000 of damage was caused and a survey by the Sunderland Echo found that people were scared to use the park due to fear of abusive behaviour.

Mowbray Park Bandstand Image courtesy of Craigy144 through creative commons.

After a public campaign, in 1944 work began to restore the park the back to its full Victorian glory. This was all funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund which provided a grant of £3.3 million. The gardens were re-built, the lake restored, the bandstand was re-built and new artworks were added to the newly shaped park.  A large adventure playground in the theme of Alice in Through the Looking Glass was built, this features a giant distorted chequer board with large chess pieces. After this restoration work the park re-opened to the public in 2000.

The first year after re-opening the park received over 800,000 visitors making it the most visited attraction outside of London.

Today the park is still an important part of local community life both for families and adults alike.

Mowbray Park at Christmas.

 

The history of Ryhope Engine Museum

 

Ryhope Engines’ Museum . Image courtesy of she_who_must through creative commons.

The Ryhope Engines Museum is a visitor attraction in Ryhope, Sunderland. It is based on the Ryhope pumping station that was built in 1868 to supply water for the city of Sunderland until 1967 when it ceased operation.

Regarded as one of the finest North-East industrial monuments the   grade two listed building is the most visited landmark in Ryhope. The building is now owned by Northumbrian Water, who are the successors to Sunderland and South Shields Water Company who built the station in the 1860’s.

Due to the growth of the industrial revolution and the increase of coal mining communities and other new industries in Northumberland there became a much greater need for water for both domestic and industrial use. Although there were various natural sources such as rivers and natural springs, more was needed for the industries and cleaner water was needed for domestic use, the latter due to  the increasing number of cholera outbreaks, both nationally and locally. To resolve this new sources of water needed  sourced and this was why locally the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company  was established in 1852.

Thomas Hawksley. Image courtesy of Dumelow through public domain.

The demand for water meant that 1864 four acres of land in Ryhope were acquired on which to build the water station. In May the following year Thomas Hawksley (image above) who’s position of Engineer to the Company, was asked to provide designs for the ‘new waterworks’.

The building of the station, four-years after the land was bought, did not come without its own problems. The foundations of the building had to serve as support not only to the building itself and the beam engines but also to the well heads. This meant the engine’s and engine house had to be built together and not interfere with the sinking of the wells.

The station served its purpose of providing water for both the local industries and domestic uses until 1967. Two main reasons for the ceasing of the station were; there was a risk of salt water entering the system form the North Sea and the systems had began to collect calcium carbonate deposits which were known to cause cardiovascular diseases in humans.  The closure of the station led to reservoirs such as Derwent and Kielder being built which were cheaper to run and provided a better quality of water.

Calcium Carbonate. Image courtesy of Craig Elliott through creative commons.

Although the station ceased operation in 1967 the two Victorian beam engines are kept in working order by volunteer members of the Ryhope Engines Trust for the public to see.  The two engines are similar to a pair of double acting compound rotative beam engines which were built by a local North East firm R & W Hawthorn of Newcastle. Each beam in the engines weighs up to 22 tons with the flywheels weighing 18 tons. These engines can be seen in operation on various weekends and public holidays during the year.

One of Ryhope’s two double acting compound beam engines
Double acting compound beam engine, taken from the beam floor. Image courtesy of Amii and David through creative commons.

In addition to the beam engines the museum also contains three 1908 Lancashire boilers (two of which are still in regular service), a blacksmiths forge, a waterwheel, a number of steam engines and pumps as well as a replica plumbers shop. Other items on show include depth recorders and tools used within the waterworks industry. In addition to this visitors are now able to see through a viewing panel in the floor to the bottom of the 250-foot well shaft that is located in engine house.

Boiler Room. Image courtesy of Amii and David through creative commons.

Below are the opening and steaming dates for 2014

Easter April 18th – 21st, (With classic cars on the 20th only)

Spring bank Holiday May 24th – 26th,

August Bank Holiday August 23rd – 25th

Heritage Open Days September 13th & 14th

Blackberry Week Steaming and Classic Car Rally October 25th & 26th. Cars Only on Sunday 26th

The Museum is open between 11.00 – 16.00 each day when in steam.

The museum is open as a static exhibit every Sunday afternoon 14.00 – 17.00 between Easter until the end of December.

Admission to all events is FREE thanks to the support of Northumbrian Water, providing access to an important part of this region’s industrial heritage.

The history of the Winter Gardens Museum

Winter Gardens. Image courtesy of Ian Britton through creative commons.

The Winter Gardens Museum was established in 1846 in the Athenaeum Building on Fawcett Street and was the first municipally funded museum in the country outside of London. It contains Britain’s only known example of a gliding reptile,  which is also the oldest vertebrate capable of gliding flight and was discovered in Eppleton Quarry.

Eppleton Quarry. Image courtesy of Nick Garratt through creative commons.

In 1879, the museum moved to its current building next to Mowbray Park on Burdon Road, it now includes a library and winter garden based on the Crystal Palace Gardens that stood in Hyde Park, London.

Crystal Palace General view from Water Temple. Image courtesy of Philip Henry Delamotte, Negretti and Zambra through public domain.

The U.S President, Ulysses S. Grant,  was in attendance at the laying of the foundation stone by Samuel Storey in 1877 and the building opened in 1879. During World War II, Winter Gardens was damaged by a parachute mine in 1941. It was  later demolished with a 1960s extension in its place.   In 2001 a lottery funded refurbishment of the Museum provided a Winter Gardens extension.

Example of a parachute bomb from 1945. Image courtesy of USAF through public domain.

The Winter Gardens in 2003  was recognised as the most attended museum outside of London. It  has various exhibitions such as a large collection of the locally made Sunderland Lustreware Pottery, a stuffed Lion, the remains of a Walrus brought back from Siberia in the 1880’s and the first Nissan car made in Sunderland .

Example of Lustreware Pottery. Image courtesy of VAwebteam through creative commons.

LS. Lowry described Sunderland as his second home after discovering it in 1960. The museum has a collection of his artwork which is only surpassed by the Lowry Gallery in Manchester.

The Winter Gardens also houses an excellent botanical collection of over 2000 plants and trees, displayed to their full splendour in naturalistic settings under a single-span opaque 30 metre dome. This is a great exhibition for the budding green fingered enthusiast. Visitors can see many growing examples of trees and plants from around the world such as tea, coffee, sugar, citrus fruits, date palms, bananas, pineapple, mango, the vanilla orchid and gingers, as well as a number of plants that are used to make many important medicines.

Winter Gardens walkway and water feature. Image courtesy of Glen Bowman through creative commons.

A walkway allows visitors to take to the treetops, where they can look at all the amazing sights the gardens have to offer. There are also some more commonly known plants that are more familiar with holidaymakers as well as some spectacular water features both inside and out.

The museum is open Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm, and Sunday 2pm – 5pm and it is free entry.

Below is some footage inside the Winter Gardens.

The history of Penshaw Monument

Penshaw monument. Image courtesy of Walt Jabsco through creative commons.

Penshaw Monument is a folly that was built in 1844 and is dedicated to John Lambton,  the first Earl of Durham. It stands on Penshaw Hill between the two Sunderland districts of Washington and Houghten le-Spring. The correct title of the structure is The Earl of Durham’s Monument but it is better know to local people as Penshaw Monument.

Penshaw Monument by night. Image courtesy of Old System through creative commons.

The monument’s more commonly known name of “Penshaw” derives from a mixture of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon words. Pen is a Brythonic or Cumbric word for hill, as in the name Penrith, and shaw is derived from sceaga meaning “wooded area”; and finally the Old/Middle/Modern English word “hill”. The name thus means “wooded-hill hill”.

The  70 foot high folly is a replica of the Temple of Hephaestus in Athens and can be seen for miles around. It is considered to be the most beloved landmark for Wear-siders  and it appears on the badge of Sunderland Football Club.

The monument stands at 20 meters high, 30 meters long and 16 metres wide. Each of the columns have a 2 meter diameter. The monument was designed by John and Benjamin Green  and built by Thomas Pratt of Sunderland, it was built in a Doric order which was one of the three systems used in ancient Greek architecture.

Penshaw Monument. Image courtesy of Peter Mulligan through creative commons.

The foundation stone was laid by Thomas Dundas, the 2nd Earl of Zetland, on 28th August 1844. This was four years after the death of John Lambton. The folly is made of gritstone from the Marquess of Londonderry’s quarries on the east coast. The stone blocks are held together with steel pins and brackets.

In 1926 on Easter Monday a 15-yea-old boy named Temperley Arthur Scott fell to his death from the top of the monument. He was with three friends when it happened and 20 others witnessed the accident. They had reached the roof via the staircase and had done two circuits round the roof but on the third Scott moved to avoid a visitor and fell from an area with no protective wall. After this incident it was decided that the monument staircase would be shut to the public.

Penshaw folly remained closed to the public up until 29th August 2011 when a special National Trust opening granted access for the public.  This was a test to see if the monument should open on future one-off days. It was so popular that more than 2000 people turned up, however not all of them were able to go to the top of the monument but were asked to give contact details in order to be given priority on the next open day.

National Trust Stone. Image courtesy of Jacqui through creative commons.

Visitors have the opportunity to use the hidden staircase which is in one of the pillars in order to enjoy the views from the top of the monument. This is usually done on weekends at a cost of £5 per person between Good Friday until the end of September; all funds being used for the upkeep of the monument.

As we are now nearing Easter and the folly is soon to be open to the public I would certainly recommend a visit.

Penshaw Monument