Scheduled monuments, listed buildings and conservation areas

The historic environment of Sunderland is an asset of enormous cultural, social, economic and environmental value. The city benefits from a rich, diverse and distinctive cultural and built heritage that makes a fundamental contribution to the quality of the city's environment and providing a sense of place and belonging for its local communities. The significance of the city's heritage assets is wide-ranging and far-reaching, providing an important educational resource, a catalyst for regeneration and offering huge tourism and visitor potential.

The city's historic environment includes an extensive range of designated heritage assets that are considered to be of national (and sometimes international) significance, as well as regionally and locally important. These consist of 10 Scheduled Ancient Monuments, almost seven hundred Listed Buildings (including 9 Grade I listed and 16 Grade II*), 2 registered Historic Parks and Gardens and 14 Conservation Areas. The majority of these are located predominantly in urban areas in Sunderland, with concentrations in the city centre.

Sunderland also contains many heritage assets that are not designated but nevertheless make a positive contribution to the industrial, social and cultural heritage of the city and are of particular importance to local communities and the quality of the city's townscape and landscape.

The City Council acknowledges the value and importance of the city's historic environment and recognises that its heritage assets are an irreplaceable resource that should be conserved and enjoyed.

The city's historic environment also has a fundamental role to play in the on-going regeneration and sustainable future of the city. Indeed, heritage-led regeneration initiatives have been particularly successful in transforming the built environment and driving forward the revitalisation of parts of the city centre, most notably Sunniside and in more recent years the Minster Quarter around Bishopwearmouth.