Welcome to My Village

Welcome to my village, it's not an historical place, although traces of prehistoric man were said to be found at "The Hope" on Tunstall Hills and flint tools were found on the cliff tops, its name is said to be traceable to Saxon times, being recorded as "Refhoppa", "Reshop" and Riopp, it is believed that the name meant 'rough hope or valley'.

By the 11th century it was a small farming community of about 150 people, while not in the Dooms Day Book it is mentioned in both the Boldon Book of Bishop Pudsley in 1183, and also in the survey of Bishop Hatfield in 1380, it continued as a small farming community right up to the middle of the 19th century. Limestone was quarried nearby to build the farms, houses and stone walls, some still seen today. Now with a population of approximately 10000 people it has been absorbed into the City of Sunderland as were a lot of other villages around here i.e. Silksworth, Whitburn and lately Houghton le Spring and Washington to name just a few.

The big change came to Ryhope when Ryhope colliery was founded in 1856.