River Nar

The river Nar in Narborough

The River Nar is a river in northern Norfolk and a tributary of the Great Ouse.

The Nar rises at Mileham near Litcham in Norfolk and flows 15 miles west through Castle Acre and Narborough (the latter giving the Nar its name), joining the Great Ouse in its tidal reach at King's Lynn.

The final section of the river near its mouth was diverted northwards when the Great Ouse was re-routed to a new outfall at King's Lynn after the thirteenth century. The river was made navigable from its mouth to Narborough and probably to West Acre as a result of an Act of Parliament obtained in 1751. Ten single-gate sluices and a pen sluice (or pound lock) were used to handle the change in level. The use of the river declined rapidly after the opening of a railway from King's Lynn to Dereham between 1846 and 1848. In 1884, the river was taken over by the River Nar Drainage Board, and closed to navigation, when an un-navigable sluice was constructed to the south of a Manure Factory in King's Lynn. A new sluice very close to the junction with the Great Ouse has been built more recently.

The river has been used to power a number of mills over the centuries. The buildings or remains of five are still visible, and some still contain original machinery. Narborough Bone Mill had no road access, and bones from the whaling industry and from cemeteries in Hamburg were delivered by barge, to be ground into bone meal. The mill closed when the river was taken over, and just the mill wheel remains on the bank.

Names

The river bears a name today which is a back-formation from that of Narborough.

This river though has had a variety of alternative names, such as the Setch, the Sandringham, and Lynn Flu, though these are rarely, if ever, used today.

The Nar by Blackborough End

Route

The river rises from springs on the chalk uplands close to the 200-foot contour to the south-west of Tittleshall. It initially flows to the east and then to the south to cross under the B1145 Litcham Road to the west of Mileham. Turning to the west, it passes through the south of Litcham and enters a series of lakes at Lexham Hall, where it is joined by Broad Water.

Lexham Hall is a large Grade I listed mansion, which was built around 1700. During the Second World War, the estate was occupied by the army, and the grounds and house were severely damaged. It was bought by William Foster in 1946, who gradually restored it, assisted by the architect Jim Fletcher Watson. The gardens are open to the public on selected weekends during the year, although the house is not.

Continuing westwards, the river reaches the lakes of West Lexham Hall. It is joined by a stream flowing northwards from Little Dunham before it crosses under the A1065 road and flows through Emanuel's Common. The disused Newton water mill is passed before the river reaches the village of Newton. By the time it reaches Castle Acre it is below the 100-foot contour.

The river is now wider and starts to form meanders. It passes more lakes at South Acre Hall, a large farmhouse parts of which date from the sixteenth century, and then crosses Castle Acre Common, and there are several lakes in Big Wood. A mill was located at the end of the wood. The main channel and the mill bypass both cross a minor road at fords. At West Acre the river passes the remains of an Augustinian priory and then Narford Lake, by Narford Hall. The remains of the priory are grade II listed and a scheduled ancient monument. The Hall is grade I listed, and was built between 1690 and 1704 by Andrew Fountaine of Salle in Norfolk. It was enlarged in the 1830s. The river passes to the north of Narborough, where there are lakes and a fish farm. The A47 Narborough Bypass crosses, as does the original main road to Narborough, beside which is a former water mill, built in the eighteenth century and repaired in the late twentieth, which still contains much of the milling machinery.

The Lynn and Dereham Railway line used to cross to the west of Narborough, but it is now dismantled. The Nar Valley Way, a long-distance footpath which has been following the valley for most of the length of the river now runs along the river bank. Numerous drainage ditches are associated with the next stretch of the river, and after passing Abbey Farm, where there are the remains of another Augustinian Priory, the river is embanked, with flood banks on both sides. The Nar Valley Way crosses from the south bank to the north at the start of the embanking.

Some large lakes are located to the north of the channel, which were formerly a sand and gravel pit. High Bridge carries the road from Blackborough End to Wormegay over the river, and Setchey Bridge carries the A10 road at Setchey. A little to the west, the channel turns to the north, where it is crossed by the railway line from Downham Market to Kings Lynn. The A47 road, the A148 road and another minor road cross at South Lynn, and the river then joins the River Great Ouse at a sluice.

Natural habitats

Historically, the engineering of the channel, to make it straighter, deeper and wider, first for navigation and later for land drainage, took no account of the destruction of habitat which such action causes. Some improvement has been made by setting the flood banks further back from the channel, and creating artificial meanders within the resultant flood plain. Structures which inhibit the passage of animal life, such as weirs, have also been removed where possible. Other improvements have been achieved through the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) scheme, which helps farmers to reduce the runoff of perticides and fertiliser into watercourses. The river provides habitat for sea trout, which are quite rare in East Anglia, while its banks are frequented by water voles and otters. 78 different types of river plants have been identified growing in or along it, which includes the Southern Marsh Orchid, while insects found include 12 different species of dragonfly. Grey wagtails, kingfishers, reed warblers and willow and marsh tits are some of the constituents of the bird population.

History

While most of the river channel follows its historic route, the section near the mouth has been altered. Below Setchey, it formerly flowed further west to Wiggenhall, where it turned to the north and was joined by the waters of the Gaywood River. However, the waters of the River Great Ouse and the River Cam, which once flowed to Wisbech, were diverted northwards to Kings Lynn in the thirteenth century, and the Nar was also re-routed to join the new channel near Kings Lynn. Although the precise date of the diversion is not known, there is a tradition that it was in 1236 after floods occurred in Littleport.

Powers to improve the river for navigation were obtained in 1751, when the people of Kings Lynn, Narford, Narborough, Swaffham, and Castle Acre were granted an Act of Parliament to authorise the work. There was no opposition to the plans, which were intended to make the river navigable as far as West Acre. There was an initial burst of activity and the commissioners asked John Aram and Langley Edwards to produce a survey and estimate the cost of the work in June 1751, which was duly produced. The men recommended canalising some stretches of the river, with seven staunches and a pen sluice, but no further action was taken until 1757, when a treasurer was appointed and Langley Edwards appointed to carry out the work. The navigation would be suitable for lighters holding 10 tonnes, and the locks would be large enough to hold a single lighter.

Edwards estimated that the cost would be £2,500, with staunches costing £50 each and began the work when subscribers advanced the capital. Beginning in September 1757 and given just one year to complete the work, Edwards found delay and the need for more staunches, so that after several appears completion was extenedd to 3 August 1759, and indeed works were finished by this date.

The canalised river made a profit, but the Commissioners appeared to lose interest, and the Revd Henry Spelman purchased their interests in the navigation at some time before 1770. The navigation had become unusable in parts, and Spelman that the commissioners had failed in their duties. He obtained a second Act of Parliament for improvements. The intent was to turn all the locks into pound locks, but only one sluice was so converted. Ten staunches in the upper five miles raised the level by 30 feet. Nine consisted of a single guillotine gate, while that at Upper Bonemill was fitted with mitre gates. Although no evidence of any construction above Narborough has been found, it appears likely that it reached West Acre bridge. It also appears likely that branches at Wormegay and Blackborough Priory were navigable.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Marriott brothers, who owned a wharf at Narborough, and whose business included malting and selling coal and corn, also controlled the navigation. They unsuccessfully opposite the construction of the Lynn and Dereham Railway line from Kings Lynn to Dereham, which opened in 1848 and left the river navigation drained of custom. Navigation to Narborough ceased in 1884, when construction of the Old Nar Tidal Sluice prevented boats from accessing the river at King's Lynn.

The final stretch of the river, called Friars Fleet, was used by steam tugs and barges delivering gas water from Cambridge Gas Works to the West Norfolk Farmers Manure Works until 1932. To the south of the factory, the tidal doors of the Old Nar Tidal Sluice prevented the tide passing further upstream. A wharf called Boal Quay was served by coasters, and fishing boats moored in the channel. With the removal of the Kings Lynn Harbour Branch railway line which crossed a large loop on this section, the river was diverted to a new sluice close to the Ouse, although two-thirds of the loop remains as a tidal inlet. To mitigate against flood risks, a flood diversion channel was constructed between the Nar and the Ouse Flood Relief Channel in 2001, at the point at which they are closest. A sluice was constructed in the flood bank, which is controlled by electric motors, and the new channel joins the Flood Relief Channel upstream from Saddlebow Bridge.

Proposals

There were plans to make the final part of the river navigable again, as part of a scheme to create a non-tidal route from Kings Lynn to the Great Ouse, which included a marina at Boal Quay and a sea lock near the final sluice. It would have been part of a much larger regeneration project for the south of the town, and the river would have been linked to the Great Ouse Flood Relief Channel, which currently terminates at a sluice a little to the south of the A47 road. Various routes for the connecting link were considered, but the preferred route was to utilise the flood diversion channel, constructed in 2001. This would have been enlarged, and the two bridges, located on Thiefgate Lane and the bank of the Flood Relief Channel, would have been rebuilt to provide more headroom. However, the non-tidal link was eventually abandoned, as there were concerns over environmental issues, the channel was thought to be too narrow to accommodate boats travelling in opposite directions, and some of the bridges would not have provided sufficient headroom. The scheme was modified to include a lock from the end of the flood relief channel back into the Ouse, with the sea lock and marina being retained. These plans have since been deferred, due to the change in the financial situation and the collapse of land values.

Mills

Narborough Water Mill

The river has provided the power for several mills over many centuries. Working downstream from the source, the first mill was at Newton by Castle Acre. The site was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The present mill was built in brick with a pantiled roof, and a mill house, built with stone from a ruined priory, was attached. The mill was then enlarged, resulting in it having a different roof line to the house. It was used for kibbling corn in the 1930s. By 1972, when the mill was restored, the mill house was just a shell with no roof, and it had been demolished by 1977. A new mill house was built in the 1990s by a Norfolk historian, in a similar style to the original. Most of the machinery, including the wheel, were still in place in 2003, although not operational.

West Acre mill was a four-storey building, with a brick-built ground floor and the upper storeys built in weatherboarded timber. It had a pantiled roof, with a mill house attached. The ground floor of the mill dated from the 1400s, and appeared to be built from material obtained from West Acre Abbey. The water wheel drove four pairs of grinding stones, although only two were used in later years. The four-level stone driving frame, which allowed all four wheels to be operated at once, was noted as an outstanding example of milling machinery in the 1950s, when the building was surveyed, but it was demolished in 1959, as it was deemed to be unsafe. The mill house remains.

Narborough Mill was a large three-storey building built in 1780. Charles Tyssen added an extension in 1845, but failed to provide adequate foundations, and the addition gradually sank until the roof collapsed in 1980. In 1887, there was an engine house on the front of the mill, but this then became a house for the miller. After the collapse of the extension, thirteen fifty-foot piles were used to stabilise the rest of the building before restoration began. A fourteen-foot water wheel drove a horizontal shaft, which powered four sets of millstones, later extended to six. Although the mill ceased to operate in the early 1950s, most of the machinery remains intact.

Narborough Bone Mill was further downstream, and did not have any road access, as bones were delivered by boat, and the ground bonemeal was taken away by boat. It was built in the early nineteenth century, and was used to grind bones from local slaughterhouses, whalebones from the Kings Lynn whaling industry, and bones from cemeteries in Hamburg. The mill ceased to work in 1884 or soon afterwards, when the Nar Valley Drainage Board built a sluice near the mouth of the river, preventing use of the river by boats. Despite this, the wheel remains as a prominent feature on the bank opposite the towpath.

The final mill was at Pentney, and it was originally owned by the nearby priory. After the demise of the priory, the village gradually moved towards Narborough, leaving the mill isolated, and it ceased to be used in the 1800s. The remains show that it was built of white brick, and trade directories from the 1800s show that it was used as a pub once it ceased to be a mill.

Points of interest

• Modern entrance sluice: 52°44’51"N, -0°23’45"E; TF618193
• 1884 tidal sluice: 52°44’18"N, -0°23’59"E; TF621183
• Setchey Bridge: 52°41’39"N, -0°25’11"E; TF636134
• Former junction with Little River: 52°41’36"N, -0°26’11"E; TF647134
• High Bridge: 52°41’37"N, -0°28’9"E; TF669135 (Floodgate just upstream)
• Floodgate and sluice: 52°41’31"N, -0°28’42"E; TF675133
• Sluice: 52°41’1"N, -0°29’46"E; TF688124
• Sluice: 52°40’49"N, 0°30’34"E; TF697121 (Pentney Mill just upstream)
• Sluice: 52°40’40"N, 0°32’4"E; TF714119
• Marham gauging station: 52°40’41"N, 0°32’52"E; TF723119
• Sluice: 52°40’49"N, 0°33’9"E; TF726122
• Narborough Bone Mill: 52°40’59"N, 0°33’39"E; TF731125 (? sluice just downstream)
• Sluice: 52°41’16"N, 0°34’24"E; TF740131
• Sluice below Narborough Wharf: 52°41’19"N, 0°34’48"E; TF744132
• A47 Bridge (pen sluice below): 52°41’34"N, 0°35’19"E; TF750137
• West Acre bridge: 52°42’5"N, 0°37’55"E; TF779147 (River wider)
• Castle Acre bridge: 52°42’2"N, 0°41’27"E; TF819148
• Lexham Hall and Broad Water: 52°43’3"N, 0°45’51"E; TF867168
• Source near Tittleshall: 52°45’1"N, 0°47’29"E; TF884206

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about River Nar)

• River Nar at Jim Shead's waterways information site

References

• Babtie; Brown; Root (2003). "Nar Ouse Navigation Stage 2 Report". West Norfolk Council. http://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/pdf/090205.pdf. 
• Blair, Andrew Hunter (2006). The River Great Ouse and tributaries. Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-0-85288-943-5. 
• Boyes, John; Russell, Ronald (1977). The Canals of Eastern England. David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-7415-3. 
• CAMS (2005). "The North West Norfolk Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy". Environment Agency. http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/PDF/GEAN0305BQYU-E-E.pdf. 
• Chambers, John, ed (1829). A General History of the County of Norfolk. John Stacy. 
• Cumberlidge, Jane (2009). Inland Waterways of Great Britain (8th Ed.). Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson. ISBN 978-1-84623-010-3. 
• Holloway, James; Fisher, Karen (2011). "River Nar SSSI Restoration Strategy and Plan". River Restoration Centre. http://www.therrc.co.uk/2011%20Conference/Session%203B%20Slides.pdf. 
• Marsh, Terry; Hannaford, Jamie (2008). UK Hydrometric Register. Natural Environment Research Council. ISBN 978-0-9557672-2-7. http://www.ceh.ac.uk/products/publications/documents/HydrometricRegister_Final_WithCovers.pdf. 
• Roberts, Gary (2008). "Puny Drain Diversion (presentation at Catchment 08 Conference". Association of Drainage Authorities. http://www.ada.org.uk/downloads/events/catch08/2008%20Gary%20Roberts%20Atkins.pdf. 
• Rye, James (1991). A Popular Guide to Norfolk Place Names. Larks Press. ISBN 0-948400-15-3. 
• Towler, P (9 March 2009). "Policy Statement". East of Ouse, Polver and Nar IDB. http://www.downhammarketidbs.org.uk/policy.asp?board=eo.