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Old photographs, credited

The black-and-white pictures on our sites show Sunderland, Wearside, the wider North East and the Post Office at work. Here is where each one comes from.

Most of these images are shared by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums through Flickr Commons, mirrored on Wikimedia Commons. The Post Office photographs are Ministry of Information pictures held by Imperial War Museums. Thank you to them for keeping this history open to everyone.

Sunderland and Roker (Sunderland Business Address)

  • Roker Pier curving out to sea beyond the balustraded promenade, with a steam train on the pier, a crane at its end and tugs on the water.

    Roker Pier and promenade, 1899.

    Date
    1899
    Credit
    Cassier's Magazine, 1899 (public domain; credit optional).
    Licence
    Public domain (published 1899, author Joseph Horner)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • A crowd in hats and long coats stands on the stone end of Roker Pier beneath a huge steel crane, with waves breaking below.

    Crowds gather on the unfinished Roker Pier to watch a block laid during the Channel Fleet visit, 1895.

    Date
    10 September 1895
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Workmen guide a huge stone block into place on Roker Pier while onlookers in top hats watch from the crane platform above.

    Laying a 45 ton block on Roker Pier, 1895.

    Date
    10 September 1895
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Workers on a stepped pile of numbered concrete blocks at the start of Roker Pier, with a crane behind and barrels at their feet.

    Building Roker Pier, 1886.

    Date
    29 October 1886
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • The steel arch of Wearmouth Bridge over the River Wear, with a collier moored in the foreground and quays and houses beyond.

    Wearmouth Bridge on a postcard from around 1930.

    Date
    c. 1930
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Aerial view of Wearmouth Bridge crossing the River Wear, with ships at the quays, railway sidings and rows of terraced streets.

    Wearmouth Bridge and the riverside from the air, 1949.

    Date
    May 1949
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM DT.TUR/2/2927F).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Two steamships with tall funnels and masts moored at Manor Quay on the River Wear, with small boats and chimneys in the mist behind.

    Two Sunderland-built ships side by side at Manor Quay, around 1888.

    Date
    c. 1888
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM DS.JLT/4/PH/1/224/2/2).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • A line of women shipyard workers in caps and overalls meet King George V in naval uniform, with men watching from the slipway behind.

    Women at work in a Wear shipyard greet the King, June 1917.

    Date
    15 June 1917
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (DS.LG/5/1/1 pg127a).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • The stern of the tanker British Rose at a fitting out quay on the Wear, with a paddle tug passing and cranes behind.

    The new tanker British Rose at the fitting out quay, with the tug Wexford passing, 1946.

    Date
    10 October 1946
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM DS.JLT/5/3/8).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • The sharp bow of the destroyer HMS Opal towers over the slipway at Doxford's yard, ready for launch under a steel gantry.

    HMS Opal ready for launch at Doxford's yard, 1915.

    Date
    September 1915
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM DS.DOX/6/8).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons

Wearside (Wearside Business Address)

  • The wooden barque Vencedora on the stocks at North Sands, propped with timbers and flying flags, ready to slide into the Wear.

    The barque Vencedora ready for launch at North Sands on the Wear, 1860.

    Date
    April 1860
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM DS.JLT/4/PH/1/70).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Washington F Pit seen across open fields, with its headgear, chimney and a tall conical spoil heap against a pale sky.

    Washington F Pit and its pit heap, 1965. The pit closed in 1968.

    Date
    May 1965
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM 5417/120/5).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • The stone gable of Washington Old Hall seen between two carved stone eagles on the gate piers.

    Washington Old Hall, the Washington family's old home, behind its eagle gate piers.

    Date
    2005
    Credit
    ProhibitOnions at English Wikipedia, released into the public domain.
    Licence
    Public domain (released by the photographer) (photo, treated B&W)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • An etching of Seaham Harbour crowded with tall-masted sailing ships moored against the stone quays.

    Sailing colliers packed into Seaham Harbour, 1861.

    Date
    1861
    Credit
    Matthew White Ridley, etching, 1861. British Museum (P_2019-7015-588).
    Licence
    Public domain (artist died 1888)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • A print of Hylton Castle, a square stone gatehouse with turrets, standing in parkland among tall trees.

    Hylton Castle on the north bank of the Wear, around 1800.

    Date
    c. 1800
    Credit
    Unknown artist, c. 1800, as reproduced in Lost Houses of County Durham (1993).
    Licence
    Public domain (artist unknown, over 200 years old)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons

The North East (North East Business Address)

  • The two steel halves of the Tyne Bridge arch reach out over the river from cranes on each bank, almost meeting in the middle.

    The two halves of the Tyne Bridge arch close in, seen from Gateshead, February 1928.

    Date
    2 February 1928
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM 3730/15/6). Photograph by James Bacon & Sons.
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • The battleship HMS Victoria steams through the open Swing Bridge at Newcastle, under the High Level Bridge, with rowing boats around her.

    HMS Victoria passes through the Swing Bridge, Newcastle, 1889.

    Date
    1889
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM D.VA/24/3).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Crowds and canvas market stalls fill Newcastle Quayside on a Sunday morning, below tall stone office buildings.

    The Sunday market on Newcastle Quayside, on a postcard from around 1905.

    Date
    c. 1902 to 1914
    Credit
    Unknown photographer, postcard published between 1902 and 1914.
    Licence
    Public domain (anonymous work, more than 70 years old)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Durham Cathedral's towers rise above the wooded banks of the River Wear, with a stone bridge in the distance.

    Durham Cathedral and Castle above the Wear, in the 1890s.

    Date
    c. 1890 to 1900
    Credit
    Photochrom Print Collection, Library of Congress (LCCN 2002696728).
    Licence
    Public domain (published before 1906) Colour photochrom print, shown here in black and white.
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • The gondola of the Transporter Bridge, packed with passengers, hangs from steel cables over the River Tees.

    The Transporter Bridge carries passengers across the Tees at Middlesbrough, 1931.

    Date
    1931
    Credit
    The Wonder Book of Engineering Wonders, Ward, Lock & Co., 1931.
    Licence
    Public domain in the UK (anonymous, published 1931)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Aerial view of the new Baltic Flour Mills on the Gateshead bank of the Tyne, with warehouses, rail lines and a ship on the river.

    The Baltic Flour Mills nearly finished on the Gateshead riverside, 1949.

    Date
    August 1949
    Credit
    Courtesy of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM DT.TUR/2/3294C).
    Licence
    No known copyright restrictions (Flickr Commons)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons

The Post Office at work (Business Address)

  • A smiling postwoman in a brimmed hat holds out a letter, with a mail bag over her shoulder and a London street behind.

    A postwoman on her round in London, 1941.

    Date
    October 1941
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 5279). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • A postwoman with a Post Office bag reads the address on a bundle of letters beside a wooden fence.

    Checking the addresses on the next bundle of letters, London, 1941.

    Date
    October 1941
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 5268). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • A postwoman stands on a doorstep checking the letters in the Post Office bag slung across her body.

    A postwoman checks her bag on her round, London, 1941.

    Date
    October 1941
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 5233). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Full canvas mail sacks stamped Post Office and Letter Mail stand in rows on a sorting office floor.

    Sacks of letters waiting to go out from the King Edward Building, London, 1940.

    Date
    1940
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 2600). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • A Post Office worker in a suit and glasses seals a mail bag while colleagues fill more bags from wicker baskets behind him.

    Sealing mail bags with lead, London, 1940.

    Date
    1940
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 2601). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Post Office staff sort packets from wicker baskets into a long frame of hanging mail bags under labelled signs.

    Sorting packets into mail bags, London, 1940.

    Date
    1940
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 2602). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons
  • Men load sacks and bundles of mail into box vans backed up to a covered loading bay.

    Loading mail vans at the King Edward Building, London, 1940.

    Date
    1940
    Credit
    Imperial War Museums (D 2604). Ministry of Information photograph.
    Licence
    Public domain (UK Crown copyright expired, Ministry of Information photograph)
    Source
    Wikimedia Commons