"The earliest mention of Sunderland as a Shipbuilding port dates from 1346, at which period Thomas Menvill had a place called Hynden (Hendon) for the building of vessels". As usual, Mitchell gives no source for this statement and he also gets the date wrong. It is, of course, from Hatfield's Survey, 1381 - "Thomas Menvill ten. quamdam placeam, voc. Hynden, pro applicatione navium, et red. p.a. 2s". Note that while Corfe accepts "building" as a possible translation of "applicatione", Surtees prefers "plying". Dated C14.

There was a salt pan opposite the Coney Garth/Warren at the river mouth on the town moor, which was owned by the monks of Wearmouth who let it for £6 a year {1}. It was mentioned in documents of the 1440s and 1450s. In 1446-7 the monks received 9s worth of salt as tithe payment. A new salt pan was built in 1503-4 and in 1506-7 a keel was built to carry coal to the salt pan which itself was repaired, costing £3 6s 8d {2}. "The township of Wearmouth Panns derived its name from the ten salt pans which are mentioned in the survey carried out by command of Elizabeth in 1587. The old township extended along the south bank of the Wear from the bridge to Russell Street and had been gradually gained from the river by embankments. Messrs Austin and Sons' shipyard now occupies the site of the ancient salt pans". In the post medieval period salt pans were set up by John Sheppardson of Bishopwearmouth (partner in Harraton Colliery), George Lilburne of Sunderland, George Grey of Southwick and Robert Bowes. Sunderland's output of salt was relatively small in the 1640s. From 1635 the ten Bowes salt pans at Bishopwearmouth were leased to Sir William Lambton, who was paying £70 a year in 1649. Dated C15.

Mitchell stated that there was a weekly market in High Street, the centre once marked by a stone cross which is supposed to have been destroyed during the Civil War. As usual he gives no source for this. The O.S., citing Corder's "Sunderland Parish Notes" in Sunderland Library, says: "A market cross with pedestal 3 ft high, situated at the end of Union Street and High Street was mentioned in 1726 and is shown on a plan circa 1790. During clearance to the area in 1809 the cross was believed to have been thrown on to a rubbish heap".

"In one of the small houses, situated at the south-east of the rectory grounds, lived an elderly man who was supposed to be very wealthy; it was said he kept his money in a strong oak box. One day he was missing and his residence was found to have been broken into and plundered...". In 1902, during construction of the new fire station, a coin hoard was found, and a few days later "the skeleton of a man, but the bones crumbled away when exposed to the air. Possibly the old man had hidden his money underground before he was slain and buried by his murderers".

In 1902, when the "ancient dwellings" at the south-east corner of the rectory were demolished and the new fire station constructed, workmen found an oak box containing 300 - 400 silver coins, "chiefly groats, sixpences and shillings of the reigns of Mary, Elizabeth, James and Charles I". A skeleton of a man, thought to have been the owner of the coins, was found soon afterwards. The whereabouts of the coins is unknown.

Middlemiss cites Spearman as providing documentary evidence for the rents and profits of Sunderland Ferry being in the possession of Bishop Pudsey (late C12), as part of the "jure regalia". There are published early C15 references to payments by the cell of Wearmouth to the ferryman for passage from Sunderland, and later C15 references to a claim by the prior of Durham and the master of Wearmouth to free passage by the ferry. The bishop probably retained the ferry on this occasion. It eventually came into the hands of the Corporation, and was finally superseded by the bridge. It is not clear just where it was sited. Middlemiss declared it to have been lower down the river than the Panns Ferry which was immediately below the bridge, and the O.S. locates it even more precisely - probably on the crossing of the early 20th century ferry from the foot of Bodlewell Lane. The Sunderland Ferry which crossed from Bodlewell Lane Steps to Monkwearmouth was in service for over 250 years. The steps on the south side of the river led, for many years, to a rowing boat which ferried passengers across to the Monkwearmouth side. This service was established by an Act of Parliament in 1710. Prior to this, however, a ferry had crossed the river, at or near to this point, from possibly the C7th, following the foundation of St Peter's Monastery at Monkwearmouth in 674 AD. The Bishops of Durham controlled the crossing throughout the medieval period and leased it to different operators. The Ettrick family leased the ferry from 1661 to 1796 when it was purchased by the Commissioners of the new iron bridge. Ownership of the ferry passed to Sunderland Corporation in the mid C19. At this time, a number of steam powered vessels were tried on this route without a great deal of success. The crossing was, eventually, faithfully served by "Wear" which made the four minute journey regularly for many decades until the closure of the service in 1957. Raine's Eye Plan of c.1790 shows the ferry landing. Dated C12th.

The Benedictine cell of Wearmouth received annual rent for a coal staith, presumably on the River Wear, called Thrylstanhugh, 1415-1417. In the 1470s Michael Salter, and later William Lambton, were tenants of an unnamed coal staith, perhaps but not certainly that of Thrylstanhugh. Summers speculates that it was sited on the north bank of the river, between the then Sunderland Bridge on the east (sited by the O.S. at NZ 396 574), and Raven's Wheel on the west (at NZ 391 581 on OS 6" 1862), where the river ran deepest. Dated C15.

When the Hat and Feather Inn, Low Row, was rebuilt, a stretch of paved roadway was found c. 12 feet below street level. "Within a few feet of the ancient pavement was also found among the loose stones an ancient Quern (now in the possession of this Society), of millstone grit, fifteen inches wide and six inches in diameter, with bowl eight inches wide and three-and-a-half inches deep. At the bottom of the bowl is an iron spike or pivot, by which the upper stone was kept in position as it was turned round in the process of grinding the corn or grain". The O.S. adds, first, that the Inn's predecessor was demolished in 1902, and secondly that the quern is medieval and in Sunderland Museum.

"Recently during the rebuilding of the ancient 'Hat and Feather' Inn, Low Row, a licensed house which has existed for upwards of 200 years, the contractors came upon some interesting remains of antiquity. At a depth of about twelve feet below the level of the present street, on that portion of the building which was the Inn yard, and adjoining the disused burial ground of Bishopwearmouth Church, a section of an ancient roadway was brought to light. The pavement was...of cobble stones, in a splendid state of preservation. At the same depth, and close to the ancient pavement, were the thick walls of what had been the boundary or retaining wall of the burn. The rush of water may yet be heard...".
Mr A.A. Bell of Sunderland claims in the 1970s to have seen the corner of a Roman mosaic in the cellar of what was Bell's Cycles (part of Victoria Buildings HER 11067 and same block as the Hat and Feather, now Green's Public House HER 4476). The mosaic apparently lay 18 inches below the cellar floor. The digger driver who dug out the cellar floor claimed to have seen decorated border tiles and what looked like the hem of a gown. He also claimed to have found a second mosaic outside the police station when the roundabout was being built. Mr Bell claims that in the 1960s gas workers found another paved road near to the Empire Theatre at a depth of 12 feet. Unfortunately no archaeologist was called out at the time to inspect the findings and no record or photographs exist to prove or disprove these finds.

"Coin of Constantinius II (337-361) found at 74 Hastings Street, Sunderland. In possession of W Scott, 10 Capetown Rd, Hylton Castle". Information derived from Sunderland Museum. Dated C4.