The Stars and Stripes and Sunderland - forever entwined through this 500-year-old link
A star-studded link to the past can be found on one of Sunderland’s best loved landmarks.
Hylton Castle, pictured here in 1955, has a shield on its wall which is more than 500 years old.
It makes it the oldest stone carving of the Washington arms, which became the Stars and Stripes.
800 years of history
Founding American father George Washington’s ancestral links to the North-East stretch back more than 800 years.
It was the founding father’s great grandfather, John Washington, who emigrated from the UK to the then colony in 1656.
A crest preserved in stone
The Washington family included William of Wessington – one of more than 20 varied spellings of Washington.
The family crest, which can be spotted in stone at nearby Hylton Castle, also consists of stars and stripes – albeit of a red rather than a red and blue variety.
It is thought that the home remained in the Washington family until the 1800s, when it was remodelled to become tenements flats for multiple families.
Hylton Castle itself also has plenty more links to the USA.
In 2023, direct descendants of the family who once lived there made a 3,000-mile trip across the Atlantic to learn more about their Wearside roots.
‘My spine is just tingling’
Retired banker John Pratt, from New Hampshire, is one of a number of descendants of the Hyltons of Hylton Castle living in the USA who can trace their roots back to Sunderland.
Back in 2023, he told us: “My spine is just tingling when I think that this was the home of William Hylton, my 16th great-grandfather,” he said, standing inside the castle’s stone walls.”
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