South West Region

 29 Queen Square  
Bristol
BS1 4ND  

Tel: 01179 750700

Map

How to get to here:
By road – Queen Square is about 5 minutes walk from the City Centre.  From the M4, follow the M32 into Bristol and then follow the signs for the City Centre.

By rail – it is about 10/15 minutes walk from Bristol Temple Meads train station,  BS2 0BY– StreetMap   Alternatively Parkway train station is approximately a 20-25 minute car journey from QS.

By air – Bristol International Airport is located 8 miles south of Bristol city centre.  For travel information – Bristol Airport

Car parking – is available on QS for a limited time.  Other car parks nearby are:  Wapping Wharf NCP; Wapping Wharf Pay & Display; The Grove Car Park, Mud Dock Pay & Display; Jurys Hotel NCP, Prince Street; Queen Charlotte Street NCP.  There is also various metered parking on the streets around QS.

About the building
English Heritage moved into No.29 Queen Square in January 2003.  The Old Sailors’ Home which was now situated in the building at the rear of No.29, and accessible from The Grove, was still in occupation as a home for retired seamen.  By March 2003 the remaining residents moved out and it was developed to provide office accommodation and English Heritage took over the lease in August 2003.

Queen Square was initiated by the City Corporation in 1699 and was completed in 1727.  It was named after Queen Anne who visited Bristol in 1702. Number 29 was built between 1707 and 1711 by Nathaniel Day.  Day and his son were wealthy Bristol merchants with close trading links with the West Indies, taking goods to Africa, buying and shipping slaves to the plantations before returning to Bristol laden with goods.
 
By the 1770s No.29 was occupied by the Bright family, also merchants, who erected a warehouse at the rear of the property. In 1851 the lease was bought by a group of Bristol clergy and businessmen to provide accommodation for seamen (Old Sailors Home-OSH).  During the 1980s the Home relinquished the lease of the main building and Bristol City Council carried out essential structural repairs and in 1992 planning permission was granted for a change of use to full office occupation.

Limited funding for the Bristol Sailors Home meant it was only able to carry out essential improvements to the premises and therefore much of the building’s original C18th fabric has been retained. (D Newton. Ferguson Mann Architects. Sept 96. Information extracted from documentary & physical research compiled by Dr P Hughes & Mr N Joyce)

What we do here
The Departments based here are responsible for the historic environment in the South West, which is England’s largest region.  It comprises;

• 3 of England’s 16 World Heritage Sites;
• approx 89,000 listed buildings and structures (24% of the total for England);
• almost 9,000 scheduled ancient monuments;
• 1,513 conservation areas;
• 289 registered parks and gardens;
• 8 registered historic battlefields;
• 145 Grade I and II* buildings at risk. 
• the 3 National Parks and 14 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
  represent 37% of the region’s area;
• and the SW has the longest coastline of any region.

Queen Square is also the headquarters for the English Heritage Planning and Development “West Territory”, which includes the West Midlands Region.