Narborough Bone Mill
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| Narborough Bone Mill | |
|---|---|
 The waterwheel of the Narborough Bone Watermill | |
  Narborough bone mill within King's Lynn and West Norfolk | |
| General information | |
| Type | Watermill |
| Location | River Nar, Narborough, England |
| Coordinates | 52°40′58″N 0°33′39″E / 52.68278°N 0.56083°E |
| Opened | c. 1820 |
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
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.
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.
