Former farmhouse to West Farm. Large rendered house with clay tile roof. Central porch with pitched roof.

Rendered terraced house. Long rear garden (former burgage plot).

Rendered terraced house. Long rear garden (former burgage plot).

Two terraced houses, rendered at first floor, attractive tiles at ground floor, now converted into a newsagent's shop. The inserted shop front features imposing corbels. Two doorways with canopies over. Heavy timber guttering.

Rendered terraced house.

Formerly named the Jolly Farmers (pre 1856). The only surviving 19th century pub in Newbottle. George Horn is listed as the landlord in Whellan's Directory 1856.

Built in 1865 to serve the parish church (HER 7028). The vicarage is screened by mature trees. Fine characteristic building with bay windows, porch with arched doorway and tall windows.

Designated in 1975. Centred around the heart of the former medieval village (HER 323). The village includes fine 18th and 19th century houses, farmhouses and barns, 19th century terraced miners cottages and 20th century developments. Newbottle was created as a farming village and was owned by the Bishop of Durham. In 1647 the Bishop's lands were seized by Parliament. Bishop Cosin regained ownership at the Restoration. In 1671 the common land around Newbottle was enclosed. During the 18th century Newbottle attracted persons of wealth and became a favoured suburb of Houghton and Sunderland. This was Newbottle's 'golden age' or 'age of elegance'. Stylish new houses were built and older properties were rebuilt. Most of the houses were built on Front Street overlooking the long tapered village green. The fine houses include Mansion House or Newbottle House (HER 7022) now Newbottle Workmen's Club, 20 Front Street (HER 7025), North Farm (HER 7026) and Dial House (HER 7027). Both the latter properties have links with the Wilson family who were important farmers. East Farm (HER 4995) was the home of William Russell, Sunderland merchant and owner of Wallsend Colliery, from 1771 until 1796. In the early 18th century there were 3 potteries in Newbottle (HER 4641, 4642). St. Matthews Church was built in 1850 and rebuilt in 1885-6. Throughout the 19th century there was an increase in industry which changed the character of the village. Rows of miners cottages were built, some with long gardens to the rear (e.g. Garden Street). Many of these terraces were demolished in the later 20th century. Modern developments have generally failed to complement the historic buildings. The historic buildings are mostly of local Magnesian limestone. Some properties are rendered. Boundary walls on North Street and around East Farm are limestone. The miners cottages are built of red colliery brick. Roofs are Welsh slate or clay pantiles. Hedges, original garden walls and railings survive on Front Street. The grounds to the church contain many mature trees. Cellar Hill House (HER 7033) has a leafy garden. Traditional granite kerbstones survive in places on Front Street but much of the stone paving has been replaced with concrete slabs or tarmac.

South Moor is shown on Ordnance Survey first edition of 1856. The site is now occupied by South Moor School. The area now known as The Cedars was built on land previously owned by the South Moor Estate in the mid to late Victorian period.

Belford House has close historical associations with the political and industrial development of Sunderland. The property is actually made up of a pair of semis (originally called Belford Villas), comprising Belford House and Ashcroft. They were built in the 1870’s for Alderman J Coates, a prominent local politician (a member of the Liberal Club) and a ‘self-made man’, who began as an upholsterer’s apprentice, and who was described as a hot young radical in his obituary. He was elected to the Bridge ward in 1879 and died suddenly in 1904. By the time Coates became an alderman in 1895 the Thompson Family, of the prominent local ship building firm Joseph Lowes Thompson & Sons Ltd, had already become involved with the building.
Sir Robert Norman Thompson and his family lived in the stately house from 1906 until his death in the 1950’s following which the building was converted into a welfare and sports club for the workers of his family’s shipbuilding firm, a use that has been sustained until very recently in the name of Belford House Sports and Social Club.
Identification of the architects requires further research, but the involvement of Joseph Potts (1799-1885) or George A Middlemiss (1815-1887) should be considered. As already noted above, Potts completed a plan for a house on The Cedars, and Middlemiss not only built Ashbrooke Tower at Ashbrooke Cross as his own residence, he also owned the brickworks on Villette Road and was prolific in Hendon. However, he was renowned for his staunchly Tory views which would probably negate any involvement in the design of Belford house for the radically Liberal Coates!

Belford House and Ashcroft both received shed and garage extensions in the early 1910s and the former’s kitchen was extended in 1928 by Hedley & Dent architects.

Architecturally, Belford House is quite unlike anything else in the area, giving it much distinctiveness and great character. It is a large, well-designed Gothic style building with an imposing presence but a strong sense of being ‘hidden away’ in Belford Close. It was originally set in large gardens, later incorporating extensive sports grounds – tennis courts, bowling green and a playing field - following its conversion into a sports club.
The building is three storeys high and built in uneven dark red brick with a Welsh slate roof, roll topped ridge tiles and sandstone quoins, window surrounds and other details. It has a strong vertical emphasis, which is intensified by the tall, slender pattern of fenestration, pointed gables and steep roof pitch. The roofline is particularly interesting, with tall brick corniced chimneys and each of the 14 gables on the main elevations finished with a pronounced ogee-shaped stone coping, topped with a large finial.

Externally, the building is generally very well preserved with few alterations. It retains all of its traditional timber sliding-sashes, with the exception of the bricked-up attic windows of Ashcroft, and the majority of cast-iron rainwater goods are still in place. There have been several small extensions, which although not designed with as much flair as the main building are generally sympathetic to its character.

The immediate setting of Belford House has been compromised over time. The front gardens, separated by a substantial, stepped brick wall with an integral stone gate pier, are all but lost to hardstanding and the rear garden to Ashcroft has been largely developed for a bungalow. The original rear garden on the Belford House side is still evident but its formality and layout has been lost. The tennis courts and bowling green also remain but are disused and untidy/overgrown.

Belford House is a locally significant building, both historically and architecturally. It has strong associations with the political and industrial development of Sunderland, having been built for a prominent local politician and for a large part of its history used in associated with the City’s shipbuilding heritage. The architectural style and composition of the building is very impressive and relatively unique within the City, giving it a high degree of local distinctiveness that has on the whole been very well preserved. These attributes give Belford House an overall special quality and significance worthy of conserving.

The Victorian development which had taken place in the area is shown on the 1897 second edition OS map. The well arranged low density houses in their long gardens on The Cedars (1-11) had been built, as had Belford House and Belford Terrace, with Belford Road laid out to reach them. The construction dates for all of these require further research, but the helpful 1890s map by R S Routhwaite highlighting development built since 1878, shows all of the above as built (reproduced in Sunderland – River, Town and People, A History from the 1780s to the Present Day, Eds. G E Milburn and S Miller, Sunderland City Council, 1988). The house was lost to fire in 2006.