Billingham

Billingham
County Durham
Billingham Town Centre
Location
Grid reference:	NZ470240
Location:	54°36’36"N, 1°16’12"W
Data
Population:	35,765  (2006 est.)
Post town:	Billingham
Postcode:	TS22, TS23
Dialling code:	01642
Local Government
Council:	Stockton-on-Tees
Parliamentary constituency:	Stockton North

Billingham is a town in County Durham, an industrial town built around its chemical works. Billingham is a place of some 35,765 souls, by a 2006 count. The town stands on the Billingham Beck, a tidal stream here which is a tributary of the River Tees.

The name of the town is more ancient than its industry; it is Old English, believed to mean "Home of Billa's people"

The biggest employer in Billingham in days past was Imperial Chemical Industries, which forced the town's growth, though today ICI no longer operates in Billingham. Other chemical companies remain.

The town

The town is effectively split into two separate areas by name, Old Billingham (the area around the village green adjacent to St Cuthbert's church and built up around the ICI works) and the more planned estates that have spread out since the 1950s, increasing the town's size and borders towards the villages of Wolviston and Cowpen Bewley, to the point of almost incorporating them.

Billingham Town Centre has the main shopping street, including all he usual national chain stores, as well as several charity shops, estate agents and banks. There is a market in the town centre every Monday and Friday. The town centre lacks some services, but Stockton Town Centre is less than 3 miles away and Middlesbrough Town Centre over the Tees in Yorkshire is the same distance.

History

Billingham and the ICI factory

Chemical industry and ICI

The beginning of the First World War brought a high demand for explosives and this led to a massive expansion of Billingham. In 1917, Billingham was chosen to be the site of a new chemical works supplying ammonia for the war. However, the plant was completed in 1920, after the war had ended. The Brunner Mond Company took over the site, and converted it to manufacture fertilisers. In December 1926, Brunner Mond merged with three other chemical companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), who took control of the plant.

ICI began to produce plastics at Billingham in 1966.

Aldous Huxley visited the newly opened and technologically-advanced Brunner and Mond plant at ICI and gave a detailed account of the processes he saw. The introduction to the most recent print of Brave New World states that Huxley was inspired to write the novel by this Billingham visit.

Henry Thorold in the Shell Guide to County Durham states:

“

This is one of the most extraordinary of experiences, a sight almost unique in England. On either side of the road are the works. Steaming, sizzling - tall steel towers, great cylinders, pipes everywhere... At night the whole industrial world along the banks of the Tees comes to life... brilliant with a thousand lights, the great girders of the Transporter Bridge dark in silhouette: a magic city."

”

From 1971 to 1988 ICI operated a small General Atomics TRIGA Mark I nuclear reactor at its Billingham factory to produce radio-isotopes for use in process instrumentation such as level measurement devices. In addition to its own on-site coal-fired power station, ICI also operated the coal-fired North Tees Power Station, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, on the banks of the Tees to provide electricity for its plants. The latter was eventually decommissioned and demolished (at a ceremony attended by Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley) in 1987. The site of the power station is now Billingham Reach Industrial Estate, an international wharf owned by Able UK Ltd.

ICI sold many of its businesses during the restructuring of the company in the 1990s and no longer operates in Billingham. Some of the company's former manufacturing plants are still in operation, run by other chemical companies.

Anhydrite Mine

In 1983, NIREX announced a proposal to use the now-disused anhydrite mine as a site for the disposal of intermediate level nuclear waste. There was a huge public outcry led by BAND (Billingham Against Nuclear Dumping) Chairman Reverend Peter Hirst, since despite the suitability of the site in geological terms, it was very close to a large population centre. Subsequently, in 1985, the plans were dropped. More recent plans in 2007 to re-open the mines for "use as a long-term disposal facility for low hazard waste" were met with similar opposition, and a petition of 3,200 signatures against the mine's opening was presented to the local authority.

In March 2011 Stockton Council's planning committee accepted an application from NPL Waste Management to reopen the mine for the disposal of hazardous waste. NPL plans to convert the mine to a 4,000,000 cubic metre waste storage facility, receiving over 100,000 tons of waste annually.

Several chemical plants close to the town were suffered explosions and leaks in 2006 and 2007.

Churches

Several denominations have churches in Billingham. The town is within the Deanery of Stockton in the Diocese of Durham.

• Church of England:
  • St Cuthbert's
  • St Luke's
  • St Mary Magdalene
  • St Aidan's
  • St Peter's, Wolviston
• Baptist: Billingham Baptist Church
• Methodist:
  • (Two churches)
• Pentecostal: New Life Church
• Roman Catholic:
  • Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary
  • St John the Evangelist
  • St. Joseph

Events

In August each year the town centre hosts the Billingham International Folklore Festival - now in its 49th year (2013). Dancers and musicians come from around the world to perform traditional and contemporary dance.

Billingham Beck Valley Country Park

Billingham Beck Valley Country Park was constructed from a reclaimed industrial waste tip and has steadily grown to include former grazing land to form a 120-acre site including wetland habitats. Designated as a Local Nature Reserve by English Nature in 1992, in 2005 it won a Green Flag Award. The beck itself is one of the major tributaries of the River Tees and has a tidal reach around the former ICI site.

Sport

The chemical industry's creation of ammonia in the town also led to the formation of one of Billingham's two football teams, Billingham Synthonia FC; "Synthonia" is a portmanteau of Synthetic Ammonia, and of similar origins is Billingham Synthonia Cricket Club.

• Cricket: Billingham Synthonia Cricket Club
• Football:
  • Billingham Synthonia FC
  • Billingham Town FC
• Ice hockey: Billingham Stars
• Rugby Union: Billingham Rugby Union Football Club

Billingham Forum

Billingham Forum

In 1967, Billingham Forum was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. A sports and leisure complex, it contains a swimming pool, an ice rink, and a number of sports halls. The complex also houses the Forum Theatre.

As part of the proposals to regenerate Billingham, a 'Gateway' initiative proposed the construction of a new sports and leisure centre on John Whitehead Park to replace the Forum. This proved highly controversial, particularly as the Forum's would-be-replacement did not contain a theatre. The proposals were abandoned in November 2004, shortly after the Forum Theatre was granted Grade II listed building status.

On June 2, 2011, the Billingham Forum returned from its £15m refurbishment, which started in 2009. The Billingham Forum now encompasses a theatre, business standard conferencing facilities, a swimming facility, a TFM Radio-sponsored ice rink, a state of the art Active 8 Gym with TechnoGym Digital exercising equipment, a brand new sauna and steam room, a sports injury centre, and dry sports and drama facilities. There was originally a fish pond in the center of Billingham Forum, however this has been removed. The exterior wall panels have also been replenished on a color scheme of Dark Blue, Grey and Yellow.

Outside links

• Billingham Town Council homepage
• Billingham International Festival site
• Billingham Town Council