Sunderland Point

Sunderland Point is a peninsula on the west coast of North England at the junction of the River Lune in Morecambe Bay , on the peninsula is the village of Sunderland , which is also often referred to as Sunderland Point. The peninsula is connected to the mainland by a low land bridge that is flooded when the water is high.

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Sunderland Point with the tip of the peninsula on the left and the town on the right

The place was founded by the Lancaster businessman Robert Lawson . There is a wharf on the peninsula that served as a dock for ships calling at Lancaster Harbor when the tide was low until Glasson Dock opened on the opposite side of the river, causing the decline of Sunderland. Even today there are houses and warehouses in Sunderland, some of which are protected as Grade II architectural monuments.

Sambo's Grave

Sambo's grave

At Sunderland Point is the grave of a slave of African descent who died here in 1736. Little is known about the dead. Even that his name is really Sambo, as stated, is doubtful, because as an unbaptized person he was not buried in the cemetery and his grave was only marked with a grave plaque in 1796. Today the term “sambo” in English is a derogatory and racist expression for a black man, but for the reader of the inscription at the time, it could also have been neutral. Little more is known about the deceased than that he came from the West Indies . He died of an illness. Whether he stayed in Sunderland because of this illness or because black people in Lancaster at that time caused too much of a stir, is also not clear.

The inscription on the tombstone:

Here lies Poor Samboo A faithfull Negro Who (Attending his Maſter from the Weſt Indies ) Died on his Arrival at Sunderland
Full sixty Years the angry Winter's Wave Has thundering daſhd this bleak & barren Shore Since Sambo's Head laid in this lonely Grave Lies still & ne'er will hear their turmoil more. Full many a Sandbird chirps upon the Sod And many a Moonlight Elfin round him trips Full many a Summer's Sunbeam warms the Clod And many a teeming Cloud upon him drips. But still he sleeps - till the awakening Sounds Of the Archangel's Trump new Life impart Then the Great Judge his Approbation founds Not on Man's Color but his Worth of Heart James Watſon Scr. H. Bell del. 1796

Translation: Here lies / [the] poor Samboo [sic!] / A faithful Negro / who / (in the service of his master from the West Indies) / died on his arrival in Sunderland / The raging waves of winter / thundered on for 60 years this lonely and empty bank struck / since Sambos [sic!] head lies in this lonely grave / he still lies here and will never hear their violence / very many sandbirds chirp on earth / and many moonlight elves fly around him / many summer sunbeams warm them the earth / and many clouds let it drip on him / but he sleeps - until the wake-up call sounds / the trumpet of the archangel signals the new life / then the judgment of the great judge will fall / not on the basis of the skin color of a man, but that Worth of his heart. / James Watson Scr. H. Bell del. 1796.

The tombstone was funded and realized 60 years after Sambo's death on the initiative of Reverend James Watson, the priest of Lancaster Castle, with donations from summer guests and not by locals. Although it is about the grave of a non-Christian baptized man, the text contains very clear Christian resurrection symbolism and at the same time illustrates the rejection of slavery by the author.

Notes on the history and language of the tomb

^ Entry "Sambo" in the Oxford English Dictionary .
↑ The first ship that Lancaster traders sent to the West Indies with slaves was the Prince Frederick in 1736. See Andrew White: Lancaster - A History. Philimore, Chichester 2003, ISBN 1-86077-244-7 , p. 62. So this was before Sambo's arrival at Sunderland Point and says little about the reasons for his stay in Sunderland Point. White reports that it is said that the black man died of a “broken heart” because he believed he was abandoned by his owner. Probably the first black man is recorded in the church registers of Lancaster with his baptism in 1602 and the baptism of a "Negro Servant" is recorded in Heysham near Lancaster in 1738 . From the second half of the 17th century, the baptisms and burials of 40 blacks who worked as servants for traders and ship captains are recorded in the church records of Lancaster. Ibid, pp. 6-9.
↑ Note the two different spellings of the name.
^ Brian J. Graham, Peter Howard: The Ashgate Companion to Heritage and Identity. Ashgate Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-4922-9 .

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Elizabeth Ashworth: Sunderland Point and Sambo's Grave. Timetravel-Britain.com (2005)
Sambo's Grave, near Sunderland Point, itself near Lancaster, UK, July 24, 2005. Photo and information about the grave.

Web links

Commons : Sunderland Point - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Sunderland Point / Morecambe Bay trail. Discovering Britain.

53,998 -2,876Coordinates: 53 ° 59 ′ 52.8 " N , 2 ° 52 ′ 33.6" W.

[1] Entry "Sambo" in the Oxford English Dictionary .

[2] The first ship that Lancaster traders sent to the West Indies with slaves was the Prince Frederick in 1736. See Andrew White: Lancaster - A History. Philimore, Chichester 2003, ISBN 1-86077-244-7 , p. 62. So this was before Sambo's arrival at Sunderland Point and says little about the reasons for his stay in Sunderland Point. White reports that it is said that the black man died of a “broken heart” because he believed he was abandoned by his owner. Probably the first black man is recorded in the church registers of Lancaster with his baptism in 1602 and the baptism of a "Negro Servant" is recorded in Heysham near Lancaster in 1738 . From the second half of the 17th century, the baptisms and burials of 40 blacks who worked as servants for traders and ship captains are recorded in the church records of Lancaster. Ibid, pp. 6-9.

[3] Note the two different spellings of the name.

[4] Brian J. Graham, Peter Howard: The Ashgate Companion to Heritage and Identity. Ashgate Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-4922-9 .