The Cement Works was erected in 1866-7 by Peverall & Harwood. Cement was one of the major industries of the Wear at the beginning of the 19th. century. The chief works were at Pallion where there were 15 kilns burning annually, 30,000 tons of limestone affording 10,000 cauldrons of lime. A cauldron equalled roughly 121 cu. ft. or three marine tons. The limestone for the Hylton Cement Works may have come from the old quarry alongside the Keelman's Lonnen between Hylton Road and the railway line. There are no official output figures for the Hylton Cement Works. These works were offered for sale by public auction on 18th March 1898, as a going concern, comprising Wash Mill House with two Wash mills, Grinding House with three edge runner mills, adequate engine and boiler house, 5 drying flats with ovens. 10 kilns and 5 reservoirs, extensive warehouse accommodation, also cooperage and fitters shop. The river frontage was about 2¾ acres with a 30 years unexpired lease. It was sold to James Anderson of Hylton for £7,000, carried on till 1915, under the name of Elliott & Brown.
South Hylton Iron Works occupied the site alongside the railway later occupied by Foster's Forge. Parts of the original stonework are still evident. The Works was owned by Walton & Usher, later Ray & Usher. Thomas Usher is listed as an Iron Merchant in 1865. It has proved very difficult to discover the scope of products from this works but we do know that when the Durham to Sunderland railway was laid in 1851-2, most of the chairs and spikes were made at Hylton Iron Works. The later output was mainly forgings for the shipbuilding and engineering industries.
The Saw Mill and Rivet works were being run in 1865 by John & Lancelot Brown. By 1873 Brown’s were running the Rivet Works and T. Nicholson the mills. John Brown lived at Hylton House. The remains of these works can be seen on the riverside below the Gas House Field. There still exist some steps down the bank-side at the foot of Wear Street which are called the Saw Mill Steps. At the east end of this site there is evidence of a small dockyard from which in more recent times a ferry took men to work at Osborne Graham's shipyard. Edward Henderson, 13, Railway Terrace, was operating a slipway here in the early decade of this century. He is last recorded 1911-12.
There were two Brickyards in Hylton, one established by William Wakefield in 1851, was just north of the church. It closed when the clay ran out, probably before 1854 as Alma Street is built on the site, and the name Alma is associated with the Crimea War of 1854. This excavation left the church standing on a block of clay about 15 ft. higher than the level to the north and is the reason for the structural damage being suffered by that building. The other Brickyard was where the British Legion Club now stands. This was owned in 1865 by Thomas Pratt. There was a limestone quarry alongside Keelman's Lane which supplied dolomite to Washington Chemical Works and which employed a small number of Hylton men.
The last major industry was, of course, farming. It is not possible to know now where all the farms were but in the 1920's there were still 7 farms within the parish. The Hutchinson family were prominent farmers in Hylton. They were the last owners of the High Farm and there is a tombstone in the church yard which shows they were at Ferryboat Farm in 1840. Other farmers traced were:-
1828 - Thomas Bainbridge, S. & T. Hewitson, Mark Hutchinson, Wm. Scott, John Streaker, Thomas Thompson.
1829 - Wm.. Bulmer
1830 - Ralph Hewison, George Hodgson, Thomas and Lancelot Hutchinson, High Ford. Ralph Lawson, Wm. Proudfoot - North Farm, Wm. Scott, John Straker - South Farm.
1831 - Mrs. Hodgson, John Hope (Claxheugh), Ralph Kirtley, Ralph Lawson (High Ford), Caleb & William Richardson, Robert Brook, Lancelot Hutchinson (Ferry Farm)
1832 - Robert Brock (Low Ford), Wm. Proud (North Ford), Eliz. Walker, Richard Hopper, Lancelot Hutchinson, R. Kirtley, Ralph Lawson.
1833 - Mrs. Ann Gales was farming at The Cottage (The Grange). The Hutchinson's, Lancelot, Nicholas and Thomas were at High Ford, and Thomas Lowes was farm steward at Claxheugh.
1834 - Christopher Charlton was at Mussel Hill, name later changed to Ford Farm by 1885, John Breck Pattison was at Low Ford farm and Thomas Willis at Garden House Farm.
The last occupant of Ferryboat Farm was Wilfred Thompson; of Page Pastures Farm was G. W. Pattison, and of Claxheugh, George Browell. Middle Farm formerly Brekon Hill was last occupied by Joseph Hutchinson.
John Wigham & Sons, Ltd., was founded in 1878 at Pallion, and moved to Hylton in 1885 as a foundry and engine works making steam winches and steering gears. They also operated a slipway in their early days upon which ships could be hauled out of the river and repaired.
On 13th May, 1913, the United States of America Patent Office, granted John Wigham and John Rodham Wigham, Patent No: 1061932, for a period of seventeen years, in respect of Control Devices for steam Engines.
There was a man working there who was nicknamed `Pitchy' because his first job as a boy had been to melt the pitch for caulking the seams of the ships on the slipway.
Mr. John Wigham lived at 7, Railway Terrace from 1877, before moving into Ford Villa.
To correct a misconception on the history of John Wigham & Sons Ltd, numerous local histories of Sunderland have referred to the company as “Shipbuilders”. It never did build ships, only repaired them.