Wills Number 1 Factory

WILLS NUMBER 1 FACTORY, EAST STREET

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1202215
Date first listed:
06-Jun-1975
List Entry Name:
Wills Number 1 Factory
Statutory Address:
WILLS NUMBER 1 FACTORY, EAST STREET
User submitted image
Contributed by David Lovell This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.
Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2004-08-21
Reference:
IOE01/13112/09
Rights:
© Mr Ian Garman. Source: Historic England Archive

Local Heritage Hub

Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.

Discover more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1202215
Date first listed:
06-Jun-1975
Date of most recent amendment:
30-Dec-1994
List Entry Name:
Wills Number 1 Factory
Statutory Address 1:
WILLS NUMBER 1 FACTORY, EAST STREET

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:
WILLS NUMBER 1 FACTORY, EAST STREET

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

District:
City of Bristol (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
ST 58722 71724

Details

BRISTOL

ST315871 EAST STREET, Bedminster 901-1/45/379 (West side) 06/06/75 Wills No.1 Factory (Formerly Listed as: EAST STREET Entrance block of Wills No.1 Factory)

GV II

Offices, formerly tobacco factory. 1884 and c1886. By Sir Frank Wills. Red Cattybrook brick, limestone and slate. Gothic style. 3 storeys; 19-window range. The front divides into 2 separate builds: to the right, 9-bay arcade of tall lancet arches with linked hoods, below groups of thin windows developed down from the corbel table of the cornice and parapet. Within the arcades, a plinth of weatherings beneath a pair of tall, shouldered windows with chamfered jambs, a basketwork brick panel, and a pair of first-floor lancet cross windows, with a quatrefoil panel in the tympanum. The centre bay is a 4-storey square entrance tower with a machicolated cornice, and a French pyramid roof with gablet vents and an iron widow's walk. At the base of the tower are 2 open lancet arches on round shafts with pedestals and waterleaf capitals, engaged at the sides, with stopped hoods above. First and second floors are set back within a tall lancet-arched opening, forming a balcony with shaft balusters. The first-floor windows are lancets on slender shafts with waterleaf capitals, and above them an unmoulded 3-light window with heavy mullions and transom. The tower is supported at the sides by shallow, weathered buttreses. The slightly later left-hand range of 12 taller lancet bays is tied in by the matching cornice and parapet, but the bays extend up into the attic windows. Inside them, 2 storeys of identical pairs of rectangular windows with slender shafts and waterleaf capitals, separated by a basketwork panel, and a large blind quatrefoil in the tympanum. The factory behind was demolished in 1988, and rebuilt behind the facade, and the ground floor was opened to form a covered pavement. (Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 380; Winstone R: Bristol As It Was: Bristol: 1962-: 418).

Listing NGR: ST5872271724

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
379548
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Winstone, R, Bristol As It Was, (1962), 418
Gomme, A H, Jenner, M, Little, B D G, Bristol, An Architectural History, (1979), 380

Legal

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

Ordnance survey map of Wills Number 1 Factory

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 09:52:20.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© 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.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos