Listed Building: CHESTER LEADWORKS AND SHOT TOWER (1375860)

CHESTER CITY (EM) SJ4166 LEADWORKS LANE 1932-1/6/181 (East side) 12/10/81 Chester Leadworks and Shot Tower II* Leadworks and shot tower, the works now largely storage. 1799 and later. Brick; slate roofs. EXTERIOR: industrial workshop formerly of 6 bays, now 3 bays plus a higher west bay. The lower brickwork of south side to Chester Canal altered C20, with doorway and 9 metal windows; gable clock, 1801, face to canal. The partly-glazed roofs are partly covered with sheet materials. The shot tower, the principal feature which justifies the star grading of this item, was built by Walkers Parker and Co. in 1799, primarily to provide lead shot for the Napoleonic wars and the only British shot tower now to remain in use. It is embraced by the workshops. Circular, 30 feet (9.1m) diameter at base and 20 feet (6.0m) diameter at crown, it is 168 feet (41.19m) high with an attached lightly clad steel-framed C20 lift-shaft. INTERIOR: the shot-tower interior is intact with peripheral stone spiral stair; 4 round-arched windows, rising with the stair, to each turn. HISTORICAL NOTE: the tower is important as evidence of the revolutionary process of shot production patented by William Watts in 1783. (Associated Lead Manufacturers Trade Journal: Nichols DA: Chester's Shot Tower: London: 1980-). Listing NGR: SJ4142666692