House, now part of Sunderland University's Backhouse Building. C1835. For Edward Backhouse, banker. East extension possibly for museum in 1869 by GG Hoskins of Darlington. Flemish bond brick with ashlar basement and dressings. 2 storeys and basement. Basement has Ionic colonnade. Full length casement windows flank central door on ground floor. First floor sashes with glazing bars. Public park to the south was formerly the grounds of this house. Ashburne was used as an auxiliary hospital during the First World War by the Joint War Committee (British Red Cross and the Order of St John of Jerusalem). The committee was ordered to raise and organise Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) trained in First Aid and Nursing. The nurses were a mixture of qualified nurses and volunteers (mostly middle-class women). Many hospitals were set up in large houses on loan to the Red Cross during the war. VAD hospitals received the sum of 3 shillings per day per patient from the War Office. Ashburne was run by the 25th Durham VA Hospital Unit. Honours for service to this hospital were received by Miss Nora Dillon (Commandant) - Royal Red Cross 2nd Class.

Secondary building of ropeworks, now public house. Early C19 restored c1985 by Sunderland Council. Roughly squared rubble with ashlar dressings. Welsh slate roof with stone gable copings. 2 storeys. Keyed plain stone surround and renewed wrought-iron gates to round-headed archway. Flat stone lintels. Renewed windows with glazing bars. An additional building for the Webster’s Ropery (HER 2799) established c1793 for the world’s first mechanical rope-making process.

Memorial fountain. Dated 1880. Commemorates Sir Hedworth Williamson’s gift of land for Roker Park to the people of Sunderland. Ashlar sandstone and granite. Tall square column on high base with Scotia moulding above plinth. 4 half-octagonal basins set between base and plinth. Column base has corner pilasters which support granire shafts. Above, a corniced block with heraldic devices in low-relief panels and eagle finial. Inscription on north column: THIS MEMORIAL IS FURTHER INTENDED GRATEFULLY TO KEEP IN MEMORY THE FACT THAT SIR HEDWORTH WILLIAMSON BART… GAVE 17 ACRES OF LAND FOR THE PURPOSE OF FORMING THIS PUBLIC PARK AND PLEASURE GROUND FOR THE FUTURE USE OF THE PEOPLE OF SUNDERLAND.
Inscription on south column: … ERECTED BY THE SCHOLARS TEACHERS AND FRIENDS OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS IN SUNDERLAND TO COMMEMORATE THE CELEBRATION OF THE CENTENARY OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS AND THE OPENING OF ROKER PARK JUNE 23 1880.
Names on east eroded.

House, now public house. Late C18. Painted incised stucco with painted ashlar dressings. Welsh slate roof with dark grey ridge tiles and brick chimney. 2 storeys. Low wide panelled door and plain overlight. Altered ground floor windows. First floor sashes with glazing bars and painted wood architraves. In prominent position above road cutting. Became a public house after 1858 when the first railway station opened in Ryhope. The limestone wall opposite the inn marks the line of the original road to Seaham. In 1856 Joseph Dobson was the victualler at the Railway Inn.

Terrace of Sunderland cottages. C1880. Brick with stone plinth and brick dressings. Welsh slate roofs, except where renewed. Nos. 11 and 16 with concrete tiles and some felt-covered. Brick chimneys. Each house one storey. Internal steps up to doors, all renewed, grouped in pairs, with semi-circular overlights. Brick arches to surrounds in North Italian Gothic shape over doors and windows. Moulded brick eaves cornice removed from Nos. 3, 4 and 19. No. 13 has late C19 dormer. Nos. 5, 7, 9, 14, 15 and 18 are pebble-dashed. Nos. 6, 12 and 13 have painted brickwork.
Listed as an example of an interesting type of C19 local workers’ housing which is centred on the Sunderland area and has resulted in a strong one-storey tradition, as opposed to the 2-storey Tyneside flats in the Tyneside area {1}. One of the best remaining unaltered examples of the innumerable one-storey cottage rows ('Sunderland Cottages') provided in the mid C19 to rehouse workers away from the crowded riverside slums {2}.

Roman Catholic parish church. 1906-7. By the parish priest, Father Rogers, with Thomas Axtell. Moulded concrete blocks made on site. Welsh slate roof with gable copings and terracotta ridge cresting and cross finials. Romanesque basilica style. Aisled continuous nave and chancel with nave and aisle apses.
Exterior – round-headed windows with sloping sills. Apses have half-conical roofs. Large rose window over door with moulded surround.
Interior – painted blocks, painted round piers. East pair of piers of dark red granite. Big moulded corbels support king post roof. South chancel chapel has stained glass Annunciation by Atkinson Bros of Newcastle. Aisle windows have round panels showing saints. Tinted glass in clerestory. Alabaster font. Foundation stone in porch dated 23 July 1906.
An early example of the use of moulded concrete blocks, with additional historical interest of design by parish priest with advice from Axtell, an engineer, who supervised the construction. Blocks said to have been made by the men of the parish. The church was reordered in 2006 by Vincente Stienlet, for its centenary. The scheme included renovation and repairs, and cost about £250,000.

Terrace of 24 houses. 1850-54. Garden wall bond brick with painted ashlar dressings. Welsh slate roofs and brick chimneys. Each house 2 storeys, some with basements. Houses step down the hill in groups. Nos. 1-5 have Sunderland-type panelled doors in doorcases with Ionic pilasters and entablature. Surround removed from No. 5. Other houses have similar doors in Tuscan surround. Ground floor bay windows. Sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. Nos 2 and 3 have renewed glazing in mullioned casements. Inscribed stone street name plaque using Roman capitals. Some dormers with slate-hung sides.

Terrace of 24 houses. 1850-80. Garden wall bond brick. No. 17 painted, with painted ashlar dressings. Welsh slate roofs and brick chimneys. Each house 2 storeys, with basements to Nos 14-20. Houses step down the hill in groups. Nos. 6-10 set back slightly. Sunderland-type panelled doors in doorcases with pilasters and entablature. Ground floor bay windows. Sash windows with horizontal glazing bars. Inscribed stone street name plaque on No. 1 using Roman capitals.

Entrance piers to private road. C1855. Painted ashlar. 6 piers form vehicle and pedestrian entrances to Park Place from Park Road. Renewed quadrant walls and iron gates. 2 pairs of piers to footpaths have plinth and low conical coping. Vehicle entrance piers are higher. Included for group value.

Walls and lych gate to Church of St. Andrew.Probably 1928. Magnesian limestone rubble walls with gabled coping, lych gate oak superstructure and gates. Walls extend around north, east and south sides of the grounds of the church. Plain piers at north-east and south-west {1}. The lychgate was dedicated as a war memorial in November 1920. It is wooden with a tiled roof. "PRESENTED BY JAMES THOMPSON IN 1920. DIED 1924. FOR THE FALLEN". {www.newmp.org.uk}