Wearmouth salt pans

HER Number

80

District

Sunderland

Site Name

Wearmouth salt pans

Place

Sunderland

Map Sheet

NZ35NE

Class

Industrial

Site Type: Broad

Salt Production Site

Site Type: Specific

Salt Works

General Period

MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Medieval 1066 to 1540

Form of Evidence

Documentary evidence

Description

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 I 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 formerly occupied the site of the ancient salt pans.

Easting

439900

Northing

557400

Grid Reference

NZ439900557400

Sources

Raine (ed), Inventories and Account Rolls, p 141, 154,203-8, 225, 227, 229, 230, 232; J.W. Summers, 1858, The History and Antiquities of Sunderland, pp 79-80, 225; W.C. Mitchell, 1919, History of Sunderland, pp. 53-4; M.M. Meikle and C.M. Newman, 2007, Sunderland and its Origins - monks to mariners, pp. 89, 91, 96-99