The Settling Rooms

The Settling Rooms is a market building completed in 1902, designed by the architects Coales and Johnson, who also worked on other notable buildings in Market Harborough, such as Hill House and Robert Smythe School. The building features red brick construction with limestone detailing and a clay tile roof, complete with stone copings on the gable parapets.

The structure is a two-storey, double-pile building. The left side has a gable end stack on the front range, which displays the date 'AD 1902' in relief at the base of the shafts. On the ground floor, there are two tripartite stone mullioned windows, each with a central section that has an arched transom. The first floor features a moulded string at the cill level and three stone mullioned windows arranged in two, three, and three lights. The first and third windows have classical moulded stone lintels that form the eaves, while the second window has a taller central light that extends into the central gable pediment.

To the right of the building is a clock tower that consists of four stages. The first three stages are made of brick, while the fourth stage is constructed of limestone ashlar. The tower has polygonal clasping angles on the second and third stages. The ground stage features an arched doorway with a lugged stone surround, inscribed with 'SETTLEMENT ROOMS' in relief above. A stone string course with waterleaf decoration separates the ground and second stages. The second stage displays a large stone achievement of the Earls of Harborough, and the third stage has a tall two-light mullioned window. The fourth stage is uniform on all sides, made of ashlar with a clock face beneath a segmental cornice, surrounded by stone strapwork. The clock face has white opaque glass and copper numerals, and the stage is topped with stone pineapples at the clasping angles and an ogee copper roof, surmounted by a wind vane with a spiked ball finial.