Original: Ship building and coal mining Once famously hailed as the '' Largest Shipbuilding Town in the World '' , ships were built on the Wear from at least 1346 onwards and by the mid-eighteenth century Sunderland was one of the chief shipbuilding towns in the country .
Simplified: Traditional industry Once called the '' Greatest Shipbuilding Town in the World '' , ships were built on the Wear from at least 1346 onwards .