History of Sunderland: Monkwearmouth Station
To the immediate north of the River Wear sits a building with a fine classical design, embodying Greek revival styles complete with pillars. Today, we know this building to be the Sunderland Fans Museum. Organised by Michael Ganley, the museum contains a growing collection of football memorabilia from all over the world, including many of the greats.
But the history of the grand building which it is situated in runs much, much deeper. Long ago, this building was constructed as a railway station, of which was known as Monkwearmouth Station. First built in 1848, it was one of the finest stations in the country at the time.
The station was financed by a man known as George Hudson (1800-1871) who on being elected MP for Sunderland (Tory), sponsored the station as a gift to the booming town, he himself being a financier of railways which led to him being nicknamed “The Railway King”. The station complimented the Wearmouth Bridge, which had been built some 50 years earlier, but the accompanying railway bridge which eventually connected railways on the south side of the town to the north, would not come until 1879.
Until that bridge was built, it was not possible to get any direct train from the south side of the city centre into Newcastle Upon Tyne, as the routes of that time were primarily designed to transit coal and cargo from the coalfields to the port. Therefore, the construction of Monkwearmouth Station was designed to give Sunderland passengers an onward route to Newcastle (using the very lines which exist today) which was known as The Brandling Junction railway.
Why did Monkwearmouth Station Close?
Monkwearmouth Railway station subsequently served passengers up until 1967, wherein it was closed amidst a period of railway cutbacks which commenced with the Beeching Axe in 1963. After this, the building stood vacant for a decade until it was converted into a transport museum in 1973. This lasted until 2017, wherein funding cuts, including safety fears regarding parts of the building, forced it to close down.
But on that same year, Michael Ganley helped rekindle the building as the Sunderland Fans museum, which is now a much cherished community project. Monkwearmouth Station thus continues to be one of the city’s most elegant and remarkable structures, going strong 175 years and continuing to serve the city one way or another.
