Bishopwearmouth

Bishopwearmouth
Bishopwearmouth  Bishopwearmouth shown within Tyne and Wear
Population	14,000
Metropolitan borough	City of Sunderland
Metropolitan county	Tyne and Wear
Region	North East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	SUNDERLAND
Postcode district	SR1
Dialling code	0191
Police	Northumbria
Fire	Tyne and Wear
Ambulance	North East
EU Parliament	North East England
UK Parliament	Sunderland South
List of places UK England Tyne and Wear

Bishopwearmouth is an area in Sunderland, North East England. Bishopwearmouth was one of the original three settlements on the banks of the river Wear that merged to form modern Sunderland. The settlement was formed in 930 when Athelstan of England granted the lands to the Bishop of Durham. The settlement on the opposite side of the river, Monkwearmouth, had been founded 250 years earlier. The lands on the south-side of the river became known as Bishopwearmouth, a parish that covered around twenty square miles, encompassing settlements such as Ryhope and Silksworth — now part of the modern Sunderland urban area. Within the parish was another settlement, Sunderland, which was a small fishing port at the mouth of the river. Over the centuries, the port grew in both importance and size, and in 1719 was made into a parish independent from Bishopwearmouth.

Bishopwearmouth Christ Church was declared redundant on 11 February 1998, and later sold to become a Sikh temple and community centre. The church of Bishopwearmouth, St. Michael's, became Sunderland Minster in 1998.

Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, a military leader during the Indian Mutiny, was born in Bishopwearmouth on 5 April 1795, as was Joseph Swan, famous for the invention of the incandescent light bulb, on 31 October 1828.