An aerial view of Hills Door Factory on Norton Road which I took in the mid 1980s.
Photograph and details courtesy of Tom Collins.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
An aerial view of Hills Door Factory on Norton Road which I took in the mid 1980s.
Photograph and details courtesy of Tom Collins.
If my memory serves me correctly, I think during WWII, Hills partially re-tooled and made wooden aeroplane propellers as their contribution to the war effort. My grandma – Jenny Turley (born 1906) worked there during the war and was proud of being able to play her part.
Oh my goodness, that’s were my Dad worked. He got laid off in 1980. We moved to America in 1981. That’s crazy.
Amazing to think how this vast, sprawling, complex had it’s beginnings at a small family owned sawmill and manufactured-joinery workshop in West St, Yarm. A building which still remains and that later became an egg-packing factory. It now houses an Antiques centre, a Cycle-shop, a Martial-arts space and a Picture-framing service.
On the left of the site is the old engine sheds which are the Factory 7 where panel doors, door frames were made and the pairing up of door frames and doors done before delivery. The right hand side building was the new Factory 6 where door frames were made and also the machine shop where the components were manufactured before being released into the Joiners shop next door. This building would have been built in the late 60’s.