69 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

The FollyGrade I listedSettle Quaker Meeting HouseGrade II* listedTank House at Settle StationGrade II listedSettle Social ClubGrade II listedChurch of Holy AscensionGrade II listed+2See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.

c. 1890

Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.

Historic England lists buildings in three grades: Grade I for buildings of exceptional interest (about 2.5% of all listed buildings), Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest (about 5.8%), and Grade II for buildings of special interest (about 91.7%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.

Every entry on the National Heritage List for England whose point lies inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.

Historic England’s conservation areas layer, supplied by councils (incomplete in places, so a page fact, never graded). Hectares are the part of each area inside the built-up area.

The first 19 entries were listed in 1958, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 36 came in 1988, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.

Two measures, each ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more, with protected heritage counting twice as much as the age of homes. Protected heritage counts each listed building by its grade (Grade I three points, II* two, II one), each scheduled monument and battlefield two, and each registered park or garden by its grade; it is ranked both per 10,000 residents and as a total, so a village with one fine church doesn’t outrank a historic city. The second measure is the share of homes built before 1919, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records. History is a character grade: it describes the town and isn’t part of the overall grade.

38% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 2000–08, which added 9.9% of today’s homes.

Valuation Office Agency, council tax stock of properties by build period, 31 March 2025, for the neighbourhoods (LSOAs) that make up the town, split by where their residents live. Homes with no recorded build period (31 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Theophylact Bache

Richard Bache

Benjamin Waugh

William Henry Birkbeck

Francis Morphet Twisleton

Harold Holden

Theodore Rigg

Tom Arnold

170017501800185019001950

Richard Bache1737–1811 · American businessman and Postmaster General

Benjamin Waugh1839–1908 · English social reformer (1839–1908)

Theodore Rigg1888–1972 · New Zealand agricultural chemist, scientific administrator (1888–1972)

William Henry Birkbeck1863–1929 · British Army officer and administrator (1863-1929)

Theophylact Bache1735–1807 · 1735-1807 , merchant

HH

Harold Holden1885–1977 · Artist (1885-1977)

Francis Morphet Twisleton1873–1917 · Farmer, military leader, letter writer

TA

Tom Arnold1897–1969 · British theatre producer

Everyone born in Settle → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

Old houses are part of Settle’s character: 41% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 69 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including The Folly. Per resident, it has more listed heritage than 86% of UK towns. Only 92 of the 1,272 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

Its older streets lie in 2 conservation areas, the first designated in 1972. Of the whole list, 62% are houses, terraces and villas. Of the 8 people born here before 1900, the best known include Richard Bache (1737), Benjamin Waugh (1839) and Theodore Rigg (1888).