In 1775 William Watts of Bristol, UK started turning his home into a lead shot fall tower. He did this by building a tower on his house and by cutting holes through the floors and digging into the sandstone below. He broke through into the mine workings of Redcliffe Caves and kept on digging. In the end, he had a drop of around 90ft. There was obviously little in the way of town planning in those days! He took out his patent, #1347, for the new shot production process on December 10th, 1782. Although very successful, Watts wasn't without problems. The basement tank got flooded when the River Avon was at full tide, and his neighbors complained about the smell. Watt's made a fortune from his process. He had made the world first shot tower.

The inside drop of the first tower, some 90 feet.

The Watts tower, which began shot production around 1780 produced high grade lead shot for almost 200 years at the same location until about 1967. It was razed in 1968 to make way for road improvements in the neighborhood.


Pouring lead in 1940 at Watts	Pouring lead in 1967 at Watts

This tower, also in Bristol, UK was built in 1968 and still
stands today although it went of business in 1995. It
has a vertical drop of 120 feet and is a protected British
landmark. It was slated for destruction but saved from developers.