The Anglo Saxon Tower of St.Cuthberts Billingham cuts through a winters sky. A scene which took place for many hundreds of years when The Bottoms froze over. The tree line to the right leads up to Billingham Bank, the village hidden behind the Church. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Just above the lady third on the left one can see buildings which are the small brickworks in Chapel Road.
Yes Bob I remember these winters very well, Norton Show Field for sledgeing and near the electric sub station at Carlton for ice skateing. I returned from Norton Showfield many time with my short trowsers iced up round the bottoms and chafing your thighs. We did not know what boredom was in those days.
Winter scene 1900s. During a hard winter the owner of the Bishopsmill watermill opened his down mill-pond sluice to flood the area between Norton /Billingham to a depth of a few inches for extra revenue, with hundreds turning up. He charged for loan of skates and a fee to allow of sellers of hot-chestnut ,potatoes and ginger-bread, while from a trestle table in one of the mill-barns hot tea was sold from the mill-kitchen. It was area that the young gentry showed their skill or otherwise on ski”s. down the Crooksbarn and Mill-Meadow Banks and across the Bottoms. The square tower of St Cuthberts Billingahm is in the background