Heritage Open Days Tour: Market Harborough to Melbourne

Tours are 45 minutes long and take place on 7 Sept at 10am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and on 14 Sept at 10am, 2pm and 3pm.

Join us and take a guided tour inside The Symington Building. Hear about the building’s past and present, the family corsetry business, their workforce and it’s great community. See archive materials and objects close up.

R & W H Symington Co Limited had one of the first mechanized corset factories in England. They took over a disused factory in 1861 in Adam & Eve St, Market Harborough and later built ‘The Symington Building’ opposite. The company experienced rapid growth which was credited to entrepreneurial skill and their most famous product ‘The Liberty Bodice’, manufactured for almost 70 years and worn across the world.

Today the building houses Harborough District Council, Harborough Museum and other shared public services. Join this peek inside to reveal hidden places not usually open to the public. Delve into the building’s manufacturing past, learn about the family business and their workers illustrated with images and objects from the museum archive.

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