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Our next Open Days will be on 10 & 11 May 2025

See pictures from our recent Heritage Open Days

 

Access To The Bone Mill

The bone mill is open to the public on open days (Mills Weekend in May and Heritage Open Days in September), also when volunteers are on site (usually Thursdays), or by prior arrangement. There is no other public access to the Bone Mill site, it is on private land.  The site can always be viewed from the opposite bank which is a public footpath, part of the Nar Valley Way.

  

Information Wanted 

Records relating to the Bone Mill are very limited (there are only 4 pre 1970 photos that we know of).  If you have any information please Contact Us

Below are two recently discovered images (April 2016):  Left from around 1880, right from the 1920's

Link to article with larger images

Bone Mill Historic Image 1880  

     

There were a number of bone mills operating across Norfolk in the last century but the Narborough Bone Mill is the only site where substantial workings remain.  When in operation the mill was used for rendering down into agricultural fertilizer bones from local slaughterhouses and from the whaling industry, with bones transported up the River Nar by barge from the blubber-processing factory at South Lynn.  The mill stopped operating in the late 19th century, but the 16-foot diameter (4.9 m) waterwheel and the foundations of the main mill building remain together with underground sluices and two pairs of millstones.  The Nar still flows through remains of the staunches and mitre gates.

In 2015 a Heritage Lottery Fund grant was awarded to restore the mill, see article in Eastern Daily Press 26/1/15

Site owner Beryl Munford bought the then disused Narborough Maltings in the 1970s with her late husband Robin.  The purchase included 1.5 miles of riverbank and the bone mill site.  Robin had an ambition to restore the wheel and would be thrilled that his son, daughters and grandchildren are heavily involved in the project. 

In 2015 a milestone was reached as the wheel turned for the first time in over a 100 years.  The wheel can be seen turning during the National Mills Weekend and Heritage Open Days each year. Link to video of wheel turning

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