ICI War Memorial

Garden of Remembrance, Station Road, Billingham, Cleveland, TS32 1AE

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Overview

War memorial, commemorating the employees of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) who fell during the Second World War. It was erected in 1949 to designs by Gilbert Bayes RBS (Sculptor) and plaques were produced by Morris Singer and Company Limited (Foundry).
Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1439030
Date first listed:
15-Nov-2016
List Entry Name:
ICI War Memorial
Statutory Address:
Garden of Remembrance, Station Road, Billingham, Cleveland, TS32 1AE
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1439030
Date first listed:
15-Nov-2016
List Entry Name:
ICI War Memorial
Location Description:
The memorial forms part of Billingham Peace Gardens on Station Road Billingham, postcode is TS23 1AE
Statutory Address 1:
Garden of Remembrance, Station Road, Billingham, Cleveland, TS32 1AE

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
Garden of Remembrance, Station Road, Billingham, Cleveland, TS32 1AE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
Stockton-on-Tees (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Billingham
National Grid Reference:
NZ4561622726

Summary

War memorial, commemorating the employees of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) who fell during the Second World War. It was erected in 1949 to designs by Gilbert Bayes RBS (Sculptor) and plaques were produced by Morris Singer and Company Limited (Foundry).

Reasons for Designation

ICI War Memorial, Billingham, erected 1949 and re-erected 1996, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the employees of Imperial Chemical Industries, and the sacrifice made during the Second World War;

* Architectural interest: a well-executed and elegant Portland stone cenotaph, designed by the eminent architectural sculptor Gilbert William Bayes;

* Group value: the memorial benefits from a spatial and functional group value with the adjacent Billingham war memorial.

History

The Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (ICI) Billingham War Memorial stands within a Garden of Remembrance. It was created as a memorial to the employees from the town, who fell during the Second World War. The memorial was originally erected in 1949 outside of Chilton House, the ICI offices on Chilton Avenue. It was unveiled on Sunday 3 July by the chairman of ICI Lord McGowan, and was dedicated by Reverend W M Wykes, Rector of Sedgefield. Following the closure of Chilton House, the memorial suffered from vandalism and was consequently removed, cleaned and re-erected in the Garden of Remembrance, and was re-dedicated on Armistice Day 10 November 1996.

Details

War memorial, commemorating the employees of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) who fell during the Second World War. It was erected in 1949 to designs by Gilbert Bayes RBS (Sculptor) and plaques were produced by Morris Singer and Company Limited (Foundry).

MATERIALS: Portland stone with four bronze plaques, a granite base and pedestal, and a low-stepped paving slab plinth.

PLAN: rectangular, faces NE towards Station Road.

The memorial comprises a 4.26m tall cenotaph in an Art Nouveau style, mounted on a low stepped plinth. The top of the shaft is formed by a stylised tomb set on a plinth with a carved garland, supported by inverted consul bracket ends. The ICI logo flanked by swags is carved in half-relief towards the top of the front and rear faces of the shaft, with the dates 1939-1945 inscribed further down on the front face and BILLINGHAM on the rear. The four bronze plaques have lettering raised in Roman capitals; the front plaque reads: 1939 1945 / IMPERIAL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES / LIMITED / TO THE PROUD MEMORY / OF THE EMPLOYEES OF BILLINGHAM / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES / IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR, with a wreath in relief. The plaque on the rear records 88 names in three columns, while the right side plaque records 56 names, and the left plaque, 57 names.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 7 February 2017.

Sources

Books and journals
Irvine, L, Atterbury, P, Gilbert Bayes: Sculpter 1872-1953, (1998), 46 and 185

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 25th August 2016 from www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/9787
North East War Memorial Project, accessed 25th August 2016 from www.newmp.org.uk/detail.php?contactId=6403
War Memorials Online, accessed 7 February 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/194171

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

The listed building is shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.

Ordnance survey map of ICI War Memorial

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 09:27:05.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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