Houghton le Spring

Houghton-le-Spring Would not become part of Sunderland until 1974. This occurred under the final extension of Sunderland under the 1974 reorganisation of local government. Houghton-le-Spring, Hetton-le-Hole and Washington Urban Districts joined Sunderland to form a new borough within the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County. In the Boldon Book of 1183 the name of the town was written as Hoctona. At other times it was Hoeton. The Hough part of the name is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon word Hogh, meaning a point of land projected into a plain. The suffix 'ton' is most likely a variation of the tun found in both Old English and Old Norse. It meant simply an en closure, settlement or town.

There are two theories for the addition of le-Spring. At one time a Le Spring was a Lord of the Manor. The second, and more likely explanation, points to the numerous limestone springs in the area. At one time they were thought to have been of great medicinal value.

Houghton-le spring St Michaels Church. The history of Houghton le Spring is centred around the Norman church of St Michael and All Angels, in which can be found the tomb of Bernard Gilpin. Born in 1517 and died in 1583. He was known as the Apostle of the North. Gilpin, a member of an important Westmorland family, was the great nephew of Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of Durham. Born in 1530 and died in 1559.

Gilpin was appointed Archdeacon of Durham and in 1557 he became the rector at Houghton le Spring, then one of the largest parishes in England. Despite his important status, Gilpin was a generous man who always had the interests of his parishioners at heart. On all Sundays between Michaelmass and Easter he declared his rectory an open house and gave free dinners to all who visited, whether they were rich or poor.

Gilpin was a scholarly man, and was keen to see that the humble and poor received a good education. He even sent some of his brightest young parishioners to university at his own expense. Bernard Gilpin's good works extended beyond his parish and he is perhaps best known for his journeys into the rough border country of Northumberland , where he evangelized among the Northumbrian people in the same way as St Aidan and St Cuthbert many centuries before. Spreading the word of God was not an easy task for Gilpin in the North East of England, during a period of time when the local people were often ignorant and violent in nature.

Bernard's long and adventurous life came to a tragic and rather unexpected end on the 4th of March 1583, when he was unfortunately knocked down by an oxen in the market place at Durham. He was aged sixty six. If it had not been for the fact that Gilpin lived in an age of religious controversy with which he refused to be involved, this Apostle of the North could well have been respected as one of Northumbria's most famous saints.

Houghton-le-Spring Poor Law Union formally came into existence on 20th January 1837. The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1833 to 1835 had been £4,606 or 4s.4d. per head of the population. A new Houghton-le-Spring Union workhouse was built in 1864 at William Street in Houghton-le-Spring, designed by Matthew Thompson. His design for Houghton-le-Spring had a corridor-plan T-shaped main block with male accommodation to the west and female to the east. Rooms for the aged were placed at the front of the building, and for children and able bodied at the rear.

The Master's quarters were at the far western end of the building adjacent to the workhouse's main entrance which was located, somewhat unusually, at the rear. The kitchen and dining hall were in the rear wing of the main block. A new boardroom and offices were erected in 1891, with the old boardroom being converted into lunatic wards including a padded room. The former workhouse buildings no longer exist. The population of Houghton-le-Spring in 1911 was 8,916 including the 138 persons living in the Houghton-le-Spring Union Workhouse.

Houghton Feast. Carnival time at Houghton-Le Spring. Houghton Feast is the oldest and most traditional yearly festival in the City of Sunderland. The festival origins date back to the Tudor times, but the original Feast was said to have dated back to the times of Bernard Gilpin with the roasting of the oxen There are some people who would dispute this, as the festival was important as both a religious and a community event. Houghton Colliery the property of the Earl of Durham, was opened in 1829 and closed on 26th September 1981.