The village of Sunderland Bridge lies off the A167 between Croxdale Hall, featured in last week's Durham Memories and the later mining village of Croxdale Colliery.

Like its more famous Wearside namesake, Sunderland Bridge is named from being 'sundered' or 'separated' land. It was an isolated or sundered portion of the parish of St Oswald in Elvet, from which it was separated by the River Wear. "Bridge" was added to the name to distinguish it from the other Sunderland.

In historic times the village was also called 'Sunderland juxta Croxdale' or ' Sunderland-by-the Bridge'. The bridge in question crosses the River Wear and is still there incorporating some thirteenth century stonework.

It carried the Great North Road over the River Wear but was superseded by a new road bridge in the mid-twentieth century.

Sunderland Bridge village is a collection of cottages along a road at right angles to the A167.

Near the main road at the west of the village is the Victorian church of St Bartholemew, built by the Salvin family as a successor to the 12th Century chapel at Croxdale Hall.

At the extreme eastern end of the village a public footpath leads to the old hall before the road turns south to Hett village. On the corner of this road is a house called the 'Hermitage' dating in part to the 1600s with an unusual embattled summerhouse in its garden.

Sunderland Bridge belonged to William De Kilkenny in 1321 and in the 1400s it belonged to the Neville family who were the Earls of Westmorland.

The Salvins of Croxdale Hall were mentioned amongst the landowners of the 1600s and it was the Sunderland Bridge branch of the family who were the ancestors of the famous London architect, Anthony Salvin (1799-1881).

He was married to the daughter of the Rector of Brancepeth and his work can be seen across the length and breadth of Britain. Salvin was responsible for the restoration of castles at Alnwick, Brancepeth, Windsor and Durham.

There was no coal mining at Sunderland Bridge or Croxdale when the railway was constructed here in the 1870s. A mine called Croxdale Colliery or Croxdale Pit had opened in 1845, but was closed by 1870.

It was located near Low Burn Hall Farm, beyond the River Wear, a mile north of Sunderland Bridge and was served by a wagonway from Houghall and Shincliffe. The wagonway passed through a tunnel beneath Hollinside Wood and joined the railway line from Sunderland at Shincliffe.

A stationary engine was located in the fields that now lie between Low Burn Hall Farm and the Cock O\rquote the North pub. This hauled coal wagons along an incline formed by the wagonway.

In the 1870s part of the main line from London to Edinburgh was built south of Sunderland Bridge. The previous main line called 'the Leamside line' ran to the east of Durham City, but the new line of the 1870s ran to the west.

It is still the main line today and branches off from the Leamside line at Tursdale, before skirting the fields north of Hett village.

It passes underneath the A167 near Sunderland Bridge and then crosses a viaduct over the River Wear. Railway houses including a station house were built alongside the main road towards Sunderland Bridge, just north of the railway line and can still be seen today.

Railways provided a convenient means of coal transportation, so in 1875 the Weardale Iron and Coal Company, who already owned the colliery at neighbouring Tudhoe, opened a colliery at Sunderland Bridge.

Like its more northerly predecessor at Low Burn Hall, this colliery was called Croxdale Colliery. It was also known as Sunderland Bridge Colliery or the Thornton Pit and was situated south of Sunderland Bridge on the western side of the road to Tudhoe.

Railway sidings linked the colliery with the main line and a railway station opened nearby.

Croxdale colliery village, now simply called Croxdale, developed in the previously empty fields alongside the main road close to the colliery.

The houses were built in long stone terraces like Rogerson Terrace, Wood View and Salvin Street.

The church of St Batholemew at Sunderland Bridge had to be extended to accommodate the expanding population, but two Methodist churches and a school were built in the new village. All three buildings can still be seen today, with the old school now serving as Croxdale Community Centre.

Croxdale colliery specialised in coking coal and employed around 470 people at its peak. It could output up to 600 tons of coal per day in the late nineteenth century and continued to operate until its closure in 1934.

Older residents may remember the colliery chimney incorporating white bricks shaped to show the year of its foundation in 1875.

The old pit houses in the village have had to undergo some refurbishment in recent decades to bring them up to acceptable modern standards but they now form an attractive collection of houses with excellent views across the countryside towards Durham and the magnificent Burn Hall.

If you have memories of Durham including old photos or stories of people and places you would like to share with The Northern Echo, write to David Simpson, Durham Memories, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF. E-mail David.Simpson@nne.co.uk or telephone (01325) 505098