This shot of the Central Methodist Hall shows the builders just as building work was completed. I was married in this church in 1968 and at that time there were a set of gates and an iron fence to the right of the main building, the annex to the right was the church hall, if you were to walk past the hall you would be in Chiltons Avenue with two prefab classrooms belonging to the South Modern School.
Continuing across Belasis Avenue and along Chiltons Avenue you would bring you to ICI’s West Gate, Chiltons Avenue continued through the ICI works and reappeared at the East Gate. The imaginatively named New Road was built as a replacement for Chiltons Avenue. The church in no longer there, in fact there is very little or nothing left of the original East Row.
Image and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.
Picture Stockton Archive 
Att: Bruce Coleman,
The house to the right of the church was the house occupied by Mr Botcherby, his wife and family. He was the head master of the Billingham C of E school, his wife was a teacher there and his daughter was a pupil there circ 1957.
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Hello Peter,
You are quite right about the schoolmasters house, I met the Botcheby’s daughter Pam a couple of years ago and she loaned me a number of photos of the house, school and a typed copy of the school log book from around about 1860, it is a fascinating read.
Mr Botcherby allowed the use of his garden for wedding couples to have their photographs taken, I have some of my aunts wedding taken in the garden in 1960.
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