Pennywell mass grave

During the construction of houses on the Pennywell Estate in March 1950, workers reported finding 'the bones of several bodies'. The Sunderland Antiquarian Society reported the find in their annual report (not yet reviewed for this HER entry). The burials were attributed to a Civil War action and were described in a letter by Joseph G Hayden to the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette as 'men of medium build and in their late twenties'.
The find was in the local press again in 1954, when the depth of the skeletons was given as 'about 18 inches below the surface' and dated to October 1949. A field nearby was named as 'The Battlefield'.
The find was reviewed by Sunderland Global Media in early 2024, with images attributed to a newspaper article of the time, but this was not referenced and has not been located.