Pallion is a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

, civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 and electoral ward of the City of Sunderland

City of Sunderland

The City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...

, in Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 and consist of large terraced houses built for wealthy shipbuilders, but also smaller one storey cottages in other areas for local shipyard

Shipyard

Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...

 workers (the shipyard industry has now long gone).

On the edge of the parish (on the bank of the River Wear

River Wear

The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...

) once stood Pallion Hall, the childhood home of Sir Joseph Swan

Joseph Swan

Sir Joseph Wilson Swan was a British physicist and chemist, most famous for the invention of the incandescent light bulb for which he received the first patent in 1878...

, developer of the lightbulb. The house was demolished in 1901. Near this part of the area is a retail park, Pallion Metro station

Pallion Metro station

Pallion Metro Station is on the Green line of the Tyne and Wear Metro. The station opened as part of the Sunderland extension in 2002.The station is 150 metres north of the former Pallion mainline station, which closed in the 1960s...

 and an industrial estate.

Pallion was also the home of the infamous New Monkey club, which had shaped rave culture in the North East. The club was shut down in 2006 after a drugs raid where there was 18 arrests. 165 officers including constables stormed the club, later the club was forced to be shut down.

See also

• Shorts Brothers
  Short Brothers of Sunderland
  Short Brothers Limited was a British shipbuilding company formed in 1850 and based at Pallion, Sunderland since 1869. The company closed in 1964 when it failed to invest to build bigger ships.-19th century:...
  
  , shipbuilders at Pallion from 1860 to 1964.