Teesside Archives

For our June post to mark the centenary of the global company ICI, we'd like to share this dramatic image of the parabolic concrete silo that could store up to 100,000 tonnes of sulphate of ammonia on the Billingham site. This was a key product of the plant in the 1930's, used to boost soil fertility in the aftermath of the First World War. The photo is one of a number presented in an album dated May 1936 and titled 'Pictorial Impressions of the Billingham Factory'. All of the images are wonderfully framed and composed showing real skill on the part of the photographer and highlighting the unexpected beauty and sheer scale of this mighty industrial complex.
Image Reference; U/S/1831

Year 6 students at Beechgrove Primary School kept their cool on the hottest day during a celebration of the Literacy Loans project led by the amazing Dorman Museum education team and supported by the equally awesome Teesside Archives! It was great to look around their exhibition today mixing real museum artefacts with their writing, animation and drawings and fantastic to see the newspaper that came out of the archival sessions with our air raid reports. Well done everyone, looking forward to it coming to the museum later in the summer!

Another fantastically busy day at Ormesby Hall’s Love Local Fair, sharing a stall with Stewart from the Cleveland and Teesside Local History Society. A big thank you to Ormesby Hall - National Trust National Trust for inviting us to take part in such a lovely celebration of all things local and the importance of community. We loved hearing people’s stories and connections and enjoyed all of the creative talent on display too with plenty of rainbow horses to brighten the day, celebrating the police horses that used to be stabled at Ormesby Hall.