fulfilling the growing demand for coal. By 1931, Whitburn Colliery produced over 18,000 tons of coal per week, serving the surrounding Marsden pit village. It closed on 1 June 1968 and the village was demolished. Lewis Carroll visited his cousin Margaret Wilcox while she lived in Whitburn, along with Lady Hedworth Williamson of Whitburn Hall (second cousin of Alice Liddell). It is popularly believed that Carroll wrote The Walrus and the Carpenter while holidaying in Whitburn. During the First World War, Whitburn had primary shore and cliff defences. The stretch of east coastline from Sunderland to Whitburn was established by the 3rd Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment, and the stretch from Whitburn to the Tyne was established by the 3rd Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. In 1918, the War Office report recorded a training ground at Marsden Farm in Whitburn. Prefabricated hutment camps were also recorded in West Hall and South Bents Farm in Whitburn. Two rifle ranges from the time are still visible today in the village. In 1921, a war memorial was erected on the village green. During the Second World War, the coastline at Whitburn often came under attack from German bombing raids. On one occasion on 9 August 1940, a Heinkel He 111H-E crashed into the sea after dropping bombs on Sunderland. The German airmen all survived and were rescued from the water. The cottages at Whitburn Bents were also badly damaged during heavy bombing in 1940. Whitburn had a few wartime defences. A bombing decoy, known as a starfish site, was built at Wellands Farm near Whitburn. It was designed to look like a city on fire in order to confuse bombers travelling to the Tyne and Sunderland docks. A heavy anti-aircraft battery was installed at Lizard Lane in 1940, and Whitburn windmill was used by observer corps as an observation post to warn of oncoming enemies at sea. Throughout the 20th century, there was much residential development in Whitburn largely to the north and east of the village's historic core. This led to the village's function as a commuter settlement. Demography At the time of the 2001 UK Census, Whitburn had a population of 5,235. In the 2011 UK Census, the Whitburn and Marsden Ward had 7,448 usual residents. The average age of the residents was 43.6, slightly above the average for South Tyneside. The vast majority (97.9%) of residents identified as white