Fence Houses, or Fencehouses is a village in the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England.

The prisoners were used as labour to cut a path through the hill at Houghton-le-Spring in order to get the troops from Durham to the coast at Sunderland.

Smith MA, in an article in the Official Houghton-le-Spring Urban District Handbook, 1962, as: Fence Houses derives its name from Biddick Fence which formed the southern boundary of South Biddick and included Burnmoor[1] The land was originally part of the Grange (a large local manor house).

A railway line was built, bringing a 2-platform station providing services to Sunderland, Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham, and a stock yard from which local farmers shipped their cattle by train.

The line closed to passengers in May 1964,[2] apart from a one-day service for the Durham Miners Gala that year.