Narborough Bone Mill

	Narborough Bone Mill
	Watermill
	The waterwheel of the Narborough Bone Watermill
Country	England
State	Norfolk
Region	East of England
District	King's Lynn and West Norfolk
Municipality	Narborough
Location	River Nar
- coordinates	52°40′58″N0°33′39″E / 52.68278°N 0.56083°E Coordinates: 52°40′58″N0°33′39″E / 52.68278°N 0.56083°E
Founded	c. 1820
Visitation	Freely accessible to the public via footpath on the south bank of the river (All year round)
	Narborough bone mill within King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Last updated April 26, 2019

Narborough Bone Mill was a watermill that operated on the River Nar ^[1] in the west of the English county of Norfolk.^[2] The watermill was 1 mile (1.6 km) downstream of the village of Narborough. The mill was built in the early part of the 19th century and records show that it was owned by the Marriott Brothers in 1830,^[3] who also owned the navigation rights on the river Nar. The site is currently owned by the Munford family of Narborough and is undergoing preservation work following a recent lottery grant. More info at bonemill.org.uk

A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles, and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills.

The River Nar is a river in England, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises at Mileham near Litcham in Norfolk and flows 15 miles west through Castle Acre and Narborough, joining the Ouse at King's Lynn. It has had a variety of alternative names, such as the Setch, the Sandringham, and Lynn Flu, though these are rarely, if ever, used today. In 2011 the Nar was recognised by the Environment Agency as one of the top ten most improved rivers in England and Wales.

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

Operations

The watermill was used for the rendering down into agricultural fertilizer of bones from the local slaughterhouses and from the whaling industry. Bones were carried up the River Nar by barge from the blubber-processing factory at Lynn. 7.5 miles (12.1 km) to the north on the River Cong stands Congham watermill. Whales were carried there by horse and cart to be processed. The bones were then carried to Narborough for rendering. Both mills were in remote locations, possibly because of the distinctive smell that would have been prevalent. The fact that Narborough watermill was not near a road did not matter, as both its raw materials and its finished products were carried by horse-drawn barge. The River Nar navigation was opened in 1759 and was used to carry coal and grain.

The River Cong is a stream in the west of the county of Norfolk, only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length. It is a tributary of the River Babingley. The spring rises in a meadow pool on the Hillington side of Manor Farm, Congham. From there, it flows through the wood and over a small waterfall, where in the past it powered all the machinery within the Congham Oil Mill, which is now known as Congham Lodge.

Production

Precise details of the reduction process have not been recorded at Narborough, but the usual procedure was that the bones were first boiled to make them brittle and to remove the fat. The fat would be skimmed off, and used for such things as coach and cart grease. The bones would be either chopped by hand or put through a toothed cylinder. Either process would reduce the bones to smaller, more manageable pieces. In the final process, the millstones powered by the waterwheel would grind the bone into powder.

Human bones

At one time the bone rendering watermill was used for a rather gruesome practice. The exhumed remains of cemeteries and burial grounds from the north German city of Hamburg were shipped to King's Lynn and taken to the mill to be processed into agricultural fertilizer.^[3] At the time no-one questioned the ethics of the trade, as it was said that "One ton of German bone-dust saves the importation of ten tons of German corn".

Closure

In 1884 Nar Valley Drainage Board purchased the navigation rights to the Nar and subsequently built a sluice that prevented further river traffic. The mill ceased production a few years after this event, probably as a consequence of the Drainage Board’s actions. In 1915 the watermill was still standing, but the buildings were demolished bit by bit over the next few years.^[3] The machinery went to scrap, and most of the rubble was put down on farm tracks. Today all that remains is the 16-foot-diameter (4.9 m) waterwheel and the remains of the wall of the main mill building. Heritage lottery funding has been obtained to carry out refurbishment of the waterwheel and restoration work started in 2015. For more information see bonemill.org.uk

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References

↑ James Turner (1954). Rivers of East Anglia. London: Cassell & Company.
↑ ”OS Explorer Map” 236, King’s Lynn, Downham Market & Swaffham ISBN 0-319-23808-3
1 2 3 "Narborough Bone Mill". Norfolk Mills.

bonemill.org.uk

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[1] James Turner (1954). Rivers of East Anglia. London: Cassell & Company.

[2] ”OS Explorer Map” 236, King’s Lynn, Downham Market & Swaffham ISBN 0-319-23808-3

[norfolkmills.co.uk-3] 1 2 3 "Narborough Bone Mill". Norfolk Mills.