An aerial view of Billingham and the surrounding area. What can you see? Date unknown.

Image and information courtesy of Bruce Coleman…

The nearest I can get to dating this image is after 2006 because the La Ronde nightclub is missing, if the small section of white building to the very right centre of the image is part of the old ICI office block then it is before 2012, if it is not the ICI office then it is after 2012.

1: St. Cuthberts Church

2: The Smiths Arms

3: Wolviston Village

4: Dawson House

5: The Green

6: Town Centre

7: North School (Pentland Primary)

8: John Whitehead Park

9: The Picture House

10: Forum

11: “Billingham Stores” (Stockton Co-op)

12: Kennedy Gardens

13: Billingham Town Football Ground

14: Old Police Station ( Now a residential home)

15: South Modern School

16: “Tin Lizzie” footbridge

17: St. Johns School and Church

18: Billingham Baths

19: Synthonia Cricket Ground

20: Roseberry bridge

21: Synthonia Sports Stadium

An aerial view over Thornaby Town Centre 2006.

Photograph courtesy of Mark Swainston.

An aerial view of the Viaduct and Yarm c1978

This shot was taken somewhere in ICI from a lofty vantage point. The road running from left to right is Belasis Avenue. There appears to be a couple of cars parked in one of the streets and very little else, I think this dates it to the mid 1950s…

Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.

Aerial view of Patons and Baldwins Factory in Billingham. Now the site of Tesco.

An aerial view of Egglescliffe Village. John the Baptist Church and graveyard can be seen on the right side of the photograph.

On the top right you can just make out Yarm Methodist Church c1978.

Two views of “Old Portrack” taken from the NCAP Scottish Library collection. They date from May 1949. Portrack stayed much the same until the mid-fifties when demolition began.
All that remains is part of St Annes Terrace and the more modern buildings of what, in my time, was called Portrack Primary. They run at about 30 degrees from the left hand corner of the lower picture. The taller buildings, which are at right angles to these, were demolished in the eighties, but there is a colour picture on Picture Stockton. These housed the infants, aged 5 to 7. The modern buildings covered the ages 8 to 11, when we would do our 11 plus.
The buildings surrounding the smaller playground belonged to the nursery classes and the school dinner canteen. They were temporary wartime structures, I believe and have now gone. The school dinners were appalling, but we nursery children were forced to eat it.

Details courtesy of Fred Starr.

This aerial shot of Haverton Hill shows the Furness Estate quite clearly, particularly interesting is the view of ‘The Hostel’ near to the Circle on Belasis Avenue, I believe this was built to house shipyard workers just after the First World War, I remember it being used to house Hungarian refugees after the uprising in the 1950s and it later housed light industrial units including a soft drinks company called ‘Jonco’.

It is difficult to date the photograph but there are very few cars on the roads, the bus is probably one of Stockton Corporations Leyland PD2 models which were in production from the 1930s, I used to travel by bus fairly frequently through Haverton Hill in the 1950s and I don’t ever remember the route going down Marlborough Road, I do have a photo of a bus shelter on Marlborough Road in the 1950s so maybe my memory is not up to scratch.

Marlborough Road continues away to the left towards the Furness Sports Field, at the bottom right of the photo where Marlborough Road and Collingwood Road meet you can see the roof of the Methodist Chapel, next door to the left is a flat roofed building, this was always known as ‘The Welfare’, it was where we collected our concentrated orange juice, malt, National Dried Milk and the dreaded Cod Liver Oil.

Belasis Avenue continues off to the bottom right of the photo and passes the old fire station on its left then Charltons Pond on its right then Billingham South Modern School on its right and Billingham Stores (Co-op) and the Picture House at Mill Lane end, the bus actually travelled along Greenwood Road and met Belasis Avenue at the bottom of the bridge.

At the top right of the photograph the curve of the railway line heading towards Port Clarence and the Transporter area can be seen, just before the curve a single track line branches off to the left and crosses Hope Street and continues along to the clay pit and Saltholme Farm, as children we spent many happy hours playing around this area.

I remember my father mentioning a Cinema somewhere in the area of Tees Street and The Hostel, if anybody can pinpoint it for me I shall be most grateful.

Photograph and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.

Two aerial photographs showing the Tees Barrage and Teesside Park. Date unknown.

Photographs by John W Chesney, courtesy of Joyce Chesney.

An aerial view over Grangefield Grammar School, Stockton c1960.

Courtesy of Gillian Brookes nee Hugall.

Hardwick Hall can be seen in the background and in the foreground is the now demolished Hardwick Junior School and Piper Knowle Road. A small housing estate now stands on the old school site.

Photograph and details courtesy of Peter Jordison

An aerial view over ICI Billingham.

Courtesy of Ken Brookes.