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Local Information for Billingham

Billingham is a town just north of the River Tees, in the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, traditionally part of County Durham. It was a Saxon settlement from about the 7th Century onwards and St Cuthbert church has a fine tower of AD 1000. A late 7th century grave-marker from the church is now in the British Museum.

In 1801, the population was 355 people but the demand for explosives created by the First World War led to a massive expansion of Billingham. In 1917, it was decided by the government to build a plant to produce ammonia. Later this was used predominantly in the production of chemicals for fertiliser. Eventually, in 1926, this plant became part of the newly formed company, ICI. Anhydrite was also mined in the Billingham area from 1928. In 1934 plastics began to be produced there.

Aldous Huxley visited the newly-opened and technologically-advanced Brunner and Mond plant at ICI and gives a fine and detailed account of the processes he saw. The introduction to t...More