The Coastguard Hall is located in Benedict Road, Roker, Sunderland. A few yards away from the hall are the Coastguard houses.

When we moved to Roker in 1965 I was shown where in the east wall of the hall there could be seen two bricked up arches and I was told that these had been where the two guns pointed out of the hall, and they had been known as No 1 Battery and No 2 Battery. The guns fired out to sea over the tops of the Coastguard houses, the houses in Featherstone Street and Roker Terrace which are to the east of the hall. I have no further information on the guns however.

On the floor of the hall there were the marks of two rings, each a few feet in diameter, where the guns had stood with the marks where the fixing bolts had been. There was a cellar underneath the floor, access was via a hatch at the south-west corner of the building.

The floor of the hall was made from the teak deck of a ship and had a ‘camber on it and ‘scuppers’ at the side. If you threw a pail of water on the floor it all ran to the sides and down the scuppers.

Some time after the end of World War II the hall became the Church Hall of St Aidan’s Church, Roker, which was on the corner of Featherstone Street and St George’s Terrace. St Aidan’s was the daughter church of All Saints Church, Monkwearmouth. For a period of time St Aidan’s Church was closed and parishioners used to worship in the hall. Following the re-opening of the Church the hall reverted to being solely used as the Church Hall.

It is possible that the floor of the hall may have since been renewed or a new floor laid over the top of the old one so that the marks made by the guns may no longer be visible.

St. Aidan’s Church closed a few years ago and was converted into a private dwelling house. The hall is currently the Registered Office of Excelsior Services Limited.

The two bricked up arches can still be seen on the outside of the east wall of the hall, one of the arches is slightly higher than the other by about two courses of bricks.