The present hall was built around 1750 for John Simpson, who acquired the estate through marriage into the Anderson family. Simpson's granddaughter married Lord Ravensworth, for whom John Dobson altered the Hall in 1813 (he moved entrance to east side). A formal garden was laid out to the west of the hall in 1840s. The two gatehouses also date to this time. In 1894 John Bell Simpson acquired the estate. In the mid 20th century the walled garden became a commercial nursery. In 1980s the hall was subdivided into apartments and the stables and outbuildings converted into houses.

Two (tentative) Mesolithic sites were found by a team from Newcastle University, on a training diving session for the Submerged Prehistoric Landscapes Project in August 2003. This site, on the edge of the inner reef, 8m below sea level comprised of a basal segment of obliquely pointed microlith (2.5cm), a large thick blade (5.8cm), a large core with blade removals (4.5m), a flat patinated scraper (4 x 3.3cm), three scrapers, a small scraper/retouched flake, a large chunky blade with cortex (7cm), small scraper/retouched flake and a blade segment. 14 probable retouched flakes/blades, 8 possible retouched pieces, 2 flint nodules, 1 quartz flake. The depth correlates with the early Mesolithic coastline and the material is clearly early Mesolithic (or possibly even earlier). The blade size suggests the possibility of a LUP date. The microlith basal segment supports an early Mesolithic date. The assemblage includes a variety of different raw material. Some is very fresh, although others have been water-rolled. Some of the material had been exposed relatively recently from possible stratified sites e.g. By lobster action (several lobster burrows near to this location).

Two (tentative) Mesolithic sites were found by a team from Newcastle University, on a training diving session for the Submerged Prehistoric Landscapes Project in August 2003. This site, in the intertidal zone up to 4m below sea level, included 13 definite cores, 4 probable cores, 1 5.2cm endscraper, 2 retouched flakes, 1 scraper, 10 retouched pieces, 11 nodules with probable flake removals, 17 probable worked nodules, 33 small nodules and 25 probable flakes. The material is small in size, and most pieces are very worn and rolled. Several of the cores are 'worked out'. Two cores are of a different raw material, possibly discarded when raw material suppies were replenished. Evidence of bipolar working. The large endcsraper fits more easily within an early Mesolithic (or even Late Upper Palaeolithic) assemblage.

Summers (1885) states that "anciently there was a religious house, chapel, or chantry dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Sunderland near the Sea, within the parish of Wearmouth". It is not known when or by whom this house was founded, but Summers gives a plan dated 1715 which shows the area now occupied by Queen Street East as "Chapel Hill". In 1535 the Valor Ecclesiasticus of Henry VIII records a "cantaria b'te marie virgin in Sunderland juxta mare" valued at £3-13s-4d.

Stone bowl-shaped object found in the car park to the east of Phoenix Masonic Hall, Queen Street East around 1984. It was taken to a private garden in Plains Farm, Sunderland, where it remained until donated to Sunderland Museum in August 2000. Similar bowls have been found at Dalden Tower in Dalton-le-Dale, and Newton Hall, County Durham. All three bowls are made of fine sandstone and are shaped like tubs with a small hole in the bottom. The Sunderland bowl is 29cm high, walls around 7cm thick and the diameter of the bowl is 40.4cm. There is no decoration, but diagonal markings and lettering near the rim might represent tool markings. Interpreted as a possible Ecclesiastical vessel, such as a stoup. There was a religious house in Sunderland dedicated to the Virgin Mary by at least 1535. A plan of 1715 shows the area now occupied by Queen Street East as "Chapel Hill". It seems possible therefore that this might be an early chapel site.

During the construction of new houses in the grounds of Ascot House ("Wayside" on modern maps) two brick lined wells were found. One was better preserved than the other as an interceptor sewer had been built over one of them. The better preserved well measured c2.5m in diameter and was at least 8m deep. Not shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, so later than 1850. Probably associated with the market gardens of Ascot House (late C19). The wells have been infilled with concrete for safety.

Anderson shelter recorded in garden of 62 Linum Place in June 2003 prior to demolition. The shelter was entirely above ground.

41 and 44 Sandhill - Bessie Surtees House and Milbank House. Sixteenth and seventeenth century merchant's houses, later shops, now united into one property. Milbank House (No. 44) refronted c1721. No. 41 retains its original timber-framed façade. The plaster frontage is decorated with classical details such as Roman Doric pilasters and curved brackets. Interior - retains the dark C17 carved oak panelling, plaster ceilings with elaborate decoration and ornate chimney pieces. The interior was restored and refitted in the 1930s when it and the adjoining Millbank House were bought by S R Vereker (Viscount Gort) using many original features plus architectural salvage. The rear wing of the house was almost entirely rebuilt. The chimneypiece on the first floor does appear to belong to the house - it is dated 1657 and bears the arms and initials of past owners Cock and Davison. The first floor plaster ceiling however was renewed in 1932. Another chimney originated in Cosyn's House, Quayside. In 1978 Tyne and Wear County Council bought the two houses from the Gort Estate and another major restoration programme began in 1982. During this period, the houses were archaeologically recorded. Newcastle City Council leased the building to English Heritage in 1989. Superb example of timber framed townhouse and rare example of deign refined by the Renaissance. Historical note - Bessie Surtees, daughter of merchant Aubone Surtees, eloped from a first floor window of the house on 18 November 1772 to Scotland to marry John Scott, the son of a coal merchant from Love Lane. When the families were reconciled some time later, there was an English marriage ceremony in St Nicholas' Cathedral. John Scott became a successful lawyer and later, as Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor of England. The barley-sugar-twisted chimneys behind No. 41 are of the 1930s. No. 44 has a plasterwork corner motif in the mid C17 room.

Shown on 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map of 1898. Annotated as "Lime Street Pottery" on a 1:500 map of same date. The pottery, at 5 Lime Street, is listed as being run by J.R. Forster, earthenware manufacturer in Ward's Directory of 1892. By the 1920s there was a Roman Catholic Church on this site, with a boy's club, gym and boxing ring. Although the site is cleared, sandstone retaining walls survive in the bank to the rear.

Shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map as a grid of tanning pits. The Stepney Tannery was one of a number which developed around the Ouseburn on the back of the large scale facilities for slaughtering cattle which had been shipped in to the Ouseburn from elsewhere. Map analysis suggests that most of the tannery buildings were demolished in the 1930s when the tannery closed. A building recording which included several buildings on Coquet Street was carried out by Alan Williams in 2009. Some buildings contained remnants of the tannery and leather works. The buildings which stood in 2009 all post dated the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map with many 20th century in date.