13: Town Moor
Continue down the red brick path until you reach the main road (The Quadrant). Turn right onto The Quadrant and the Town Moor is the green space on your left.
Once spanning 80 acres, the Town Moor served as a recreational area and meeting place for the townsfolk. Protected by the freemen of Old Sunderland, it was not unusual to see horse racing, football matches, grazing cattle or fish nets laid out to dry on the moor. But in the early 18th century the Town Moor was divided by a stone wall into three sections. One section became the site of Holy Trinity Church while another saw the construction of a battery, built close to the river to defend against the French.
During the Second World War the Town Moor was the site for one of the biggest air raid shelters in the city. Residents could not build individual shelters because the houses in the East End were closely packed together. To resolve the issue, three large earth-covered shelters were constructed for them in the Town Moor. Images from the Historic England Archives show that the shelters were quickly demolished at the end of the war and prefab houses were built in their place. Prefabs were temporary houses for people who lost their homes due to Luftwaffe air raids. By 1958, these too had been demolished.
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