PENNYWELL

[terri1]

Hi everyone
im trying to find any information on pennywell, sunderland,
i want to know exactly what pennywell was before the estate was built,
especially in and around the prestbury road and echo office area, (around beamish era)
ive tried going on the web and phrasing it different everytime but all i get is pennywell farm in scotland. I would appreciate any information on this subject
thank you

[hughar]

Interestingly, there is no mention of Pennywell in Kelly's 1914 Directory of Durham that is online (with other earlier directories) at http://www.historicaldirectories.org/ so it seems there may have been nothing of any consequence there at that time.

A search for 'Pennywell Durham' (without the quotes) at http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ gives you a selection of old maps from 1862 to 1939 and seems to bear out the previous comment - just fields until quite late.

Have you tried a search for 'Pennywell' at http://www.durham.gov.uk/recordoffice/search.nsf/search
Also can the South Hylton Local History Society at http://www.shlhs.com/ offer any help?

[terri1]

thanks for the links and information i will take a look now,

[Geoffers]

There is a good tool on the Durham Record Office site, posted by Hughar.
Click on 'amps' then 'launch GIS' and you can zoom in and view maps of specific areas over a period of time, seeing their growth and changing streets

[suedent]

There are some excellent reproductions of historical maps available to purchase. Sunderland City Library, Local Studies Section also has many maps available for copying.

Pennywell, like Grindon only really became populated when the council estates were built just after WW2. These houses were designed to house the people of Hendon & the East End, both of which had been heavily bombed. My late in laws moved onto Grindon Estate, the estate was so new that my mother in law used to have to wheel my brother-in-law's pram over planks to get to the front door of the flats.

Prior to the estates the area was mainly farmland. This was one of the reasons they chose that area to build the two estates. My husband seems to recollect that the boundaries had to be changed & that they took over some of the land from the Rural District Council.

There were a few large houses such a Grindon Hall but they were few and far between. There was also a quarry down near St Anne's School on Prestbury Road.