Building record 10850/1 - Chester Leadworks and Shot Tower, extant listed buildings

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, City of Chester Extra Mural 1998/ 146 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

The former Leadworks factory with shot tower is now largely used for storage. Originally built in 1799 it has been substantially altered since. It is of brick with slate roofs. The exterior consists of an industrial workshop, formerly of six bays, now three plus a higher west bay. The partly-glazed roofs are partly covered with sheet materials.

The shot tower, the principal feature of the surviving works, was built by Walkers Parker and Co. in 1799, primarily to provide lead shot for the Napoleonic wars and is the only British shot tower surviving in situ. Circular, 9.1m in diameter at base and 6m in diameter at crown, it is 41.19m high with an attached lightly clad steel-framed 20th century lift-shaft. The shot-tower interior is intact with peripheral stone spiral stair; 4 round-arched windows, rising with the stair, to each turn.

<2> L - P Archaeology, 2000, Archaeological Desk based Assessment for the Leadworks, Chester, R3182 (Client Report). SCH6363.

<3> L - P Archaeology, 2000, Historic Buildings Assessment of the Leadworks, Chester, R3341 (Client Report). SCH6830.

The Shot tower is largely surrounded by ancillary structures including the engine house and boiler house immediately to the west, the casting shed to the east and the original lead stores to the south.

The southern stores consists of one large lead stack store, previously used for drying and storing. The interior has been significantly altered. Immediately to the south of this a series of four long sheds were built for the red lead works. The sheds were originally built as a freestanding group but have since been extensively altered and rebuilt and the interior walls now removed. A structure to the west of the main lead stack store appears to be contemporary with the shot tower but is of uncertain purpose.

The casting shed against the east part of the shot tower appears to be a late 19th century addition and appears to have survived largely intact. To the west of the shot tower there is a complex of buildings including the engine house and boiler house, much of which has been altered or rebuilt.

<4> L - P Archaeology, 2001, Archaeological Impact Assessment and Mitigation Statement for the Leadworks, Chester, R3187 (Client Report). SCH6364.

The Leadworks building is the only one to preserve any features of original construction consisting of the Tower and its associated engine house along with the exterior walls of the north west corner (the former boiler houses) and elements of the southern gable fronting the canal.

<5> Cranstone. D, 1990, MPP Lead Industry Step Report 3. (Report). SCH4344.

<6> Ashmore, O, 1982, The Industrial Archaeology of North West England (Book). SCH3181.

<7> L-P Archaeology, 2016, The Leadworks, Chester. Desk Based Assessment, R3872 (Client Report). SCH8018.

A desk-based assessment was produced in 2016 to assess significance of the potential archaeology within the site of the standing Leadworks buildings prior to re-development and re-furbishment. The surviving Leadworks buildings comprise an engine house, a white lead building, the south gables of four brick sheds and a shot tower. The Shot Tower is the only surviving example from the industrial period in the country and the complex is considered nationally important due to its early origins and range of relatively well preserved buildings; it is listed Grade II*. The proposed development involves the retention of the three standing buildings (including a heritage centre within the tower) and the demolition of the shed gables.

<8> L-P Archaeology, 2019, Archaeological Investigation Report for Leadworks, Chester, R4390 (Client Report). SCH8815.

Following on from the desk-based assessment (source 8), archaeological investigations were carried out in 2019 at the Leadworks site, Chester, prior to renovation and construction of new dwellings. The archaeological investigations exposed large areas of below ground survival across the east, southern and northern parts of the site. This included interior and exterior brick walls, with brick and tile flooring and complex multi flues system; associated with the stoves, white leadhouse and packing room. It is thought many of the features date to the first phase of the Leadworks, pre 1875, after which the site was developed and activity centres re-distributed. During the 1940s concrete flooring was laid over the site, preserving many of the features in situ, as well as, areas of original exterior cobbling and train tracks. The south-west area of the site had a large concentration of black glazed pot fragments most likely to have been used to contain acetic acid for use in the lead stack process. Due to on-site constraints and the contaminated nature of the site, no finds were retained nor was the natural exposed.

<9> Archaeological Research Services Ltd, 2024, Archaeological Excavation: City Place, Charterhall Drive, Chester (Plots 8 and 9), R4837 (Client Report). SCH9775.

Archaeological investigation occurred in 2024 at City Place, Charterhall Drive, the site of the eastern extent of the former Chester Leadworks, more latterly a car park, prior to re-development of the site for residential purposes. The development area lies immediately east of the Grade II* Listed extant leadworks buildings and Shot Tower. See CHER 19850 for further detail of the 2024 excavation.