Lark Pit is shown on an eighteenth century map ZAN/M17/197/a/24. Gone by OS first edition.

Queen Pit is shown on an eighteenth century map ZAN/M17/197/a/24. Gone by OS first edition.

Margy Pit is shown on an eighteenth century map ZAN/M17/197/a/24. Gone by OS first edition.

Nancy Pit is shown on an eighteenth century map ZAN/M17/197/a/24. Shown as a clump of trees on OS first edition.

Percy Pit is shown on an eighteenth century map ZAN/M17/197/a/24. Shown as a clump of trees on OS first edition.

Described by at least one writer as one of the finest houses ever built in Sunderland, this large Italianate villa of 1864 lent its name to the lush Ashbrooke area of Sunderland, where its lodge may still be seen. The architect was Thomas Moore, also responsible for Monkwearmouth Station. His client was James Hartley MP, the famous glassmaker. On Hartley's death in 1886 it was acquired by John Short, of Short Brothers, ship builders and timber merchants. His wife lived there until her death in 1932. A large port-cochere led to a sumptuous interior with heavy decorative plasterwork forming an extravaganza from floor to ceiling and back down again the other side. The apsidal hall, with stained glass, was later converted into a chapel by the Jesuits, who bought Ashbrooke from the executors in 1932 and converted it into a retreat house for men. They renamed it Corby Hall after Ralph Corby, a Jesuit martyr who was hanged in London after a preliminary trial in Sunderland. In 1973 they left and after a well documented period of dereliction it was demolished in 1976.

Home of the Ettricke family, rebuilt in 1778 and demolished in 1900.

The Barnes Estate on the Durham Road was split in 1668. Low Barnes was bought by the Pemberton family in 1783 and it remained in their ownership until the 1920s, when it was acquired to make Barnes Park. The house in its final form was in the classical style with stuccoed brickwork and pilasters. It was built or remodelled for the family in the C19 and has been attributed to Thomas Moore, the architect of Ashbrooke Hall. By the end of C19 the Pembertons no longer lived there and was let to a laundry company. In 1921 it was demolished for a bowling green. Gate piers and a derelict cottage survive.

The name Pallion is said to be a contraction of Pavilion, the summer seat of the Lords of Dalden. Pallion Hall remained a rural retreat until Sunderland's encroachments led to its demolition in 1901. The site was later developed for industry. The C19 house replaced an earlier hall. George Short, shipbuilder, lived there from 1850. It was the birthplace of Sir Joseph Wilson Swann, inventor of the incandescent light bulb. The stairs and many other fittings were removed to Unthank Hall in Northumberland. During the 19th century the house was bought by Sunderland ropemaker Christopher Webster married to Mary Laing from another prominent ropebuilding family and they lived at Pallion Hall until their deaths in 1894 and 1899 respectively. Writing in 1892 the local historian Taylor Potts recorded that Christopher Webster 'laid out the whole river frontage of his Pallion estate - extending from the corner of the West Quay to his eastern boundary - for wood shipyards, but they were not fully occupied until years later.' The 1870 OS map shows the house in wooded grounds on the west side, glasshouses and a kitchen garden near the south boundary as well as drives and walks. On the east side of the house were a stable block and lodge.

George Mowbray built Ford Hall in 1785 on land acquired by his father, Teasdale Mowbray, from the Hiltons of Hylton Castle. Six years later it was sold to John Goodchild for £14,500. Goodchild lived on the adjoining Pallion Estate and let the house to the Havelock family. Their son, born at Ford in 1795, was destined to become General Havelock, the hero of Lucknow. John Goodchild's bank failed in 1816 and the house passed to the Fenwick family. Their descendents sold it to the Corporation of Sunderland in 1924 with 174 acres of land. By this time it had been empty for 20 years and the Corporation demolished it.