c.1900
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Narborough Mill
River Nar |
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c.1900 |
Narborough Mill
was built c.1780, although several additions, renovations and modifications
have been undertaken since then. The structure is 3 storeys high and built
of brick with a single lucum and a pantiled roof. It has distinctive large
recessed brick arches. The rear still has some weathboarding and it is quite
possible the upper storeys were also of weatherboard in the early days. |
Charles Tyssen enlarged the mill in 1845 with a poorly built extension, the foundations of which slowly sank over many years until part of the roof collapsed in 1980. This complete section, along with the Victorian miller's house built onto the front, had to be demolished. Thirteen fifty-foot piles had to be sunk in order to make the building safe when restoration began. |
The 1897 plan shows an engine house on the front of the building. This was
converted into the miller's residence soon after. At that time the tributary
was then made wider and deeper than the parallel stretch of the Nar, providing
an adequate fall of water and more power to drive the wheel. |
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c.1910
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In 2007 the building still contained its machinery and had been listed. It has been the source of considerable archaeological interest over the years and several detailed studies have been carried out. Some of the information gathered is detailed on a separate page that is linked below. |
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c.1920
showing the miller's house
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1980 demolition of the 1845 extension
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Originally
the 14' cast iron waterwheel drove 4 sets of stones. At an unknown date
the horizontal mainshaft was extended to take a further 2 sets of stones. A bevel gear cast in 8 sections was also installed to carry drive power through to the first floor. These gears were retoothed in 1950-1 in order to drive a 1905 high speed multi-mill on the first floor. However, it appears the mill ceased to work at about that time. |
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28th
January 1977 - back of the mill
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24th April 1977 |
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c.1997
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c.1960
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27th October 2002
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Lease and Release in Trust. (1) Abraham Sewell, senior, late of Shouldham, now of Swaffham, grocer; Joseph Ransome, late of Wereham, now of Great Yarmouth, miller; surviving Trustees of Lease and Release dated 13-14 Nov 1741. (2) John Birkbeck of King's Lynn, banker; Joseph Loombe of Narborough, miller; Abraham Sewell, junior, of Swaffham, grocer; Richard Ransome of Westacre, miller; John Langley, junior, of Wereham, woolcomber; John Hallam of Middleton, Norfolk, miller; Thomas Gales of King's Lynn, druggist; Zachariah Clarke of Deaver, Norfolk, yeoman. |
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c.1975
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27th October 2002
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In 1751 an Act of Parliament authorised the ...making of the River Nar navigable, from the Town and Port of Kings Lynn, to Westacre in the county of Norfolk. The navigation opened in 1759 and was used to bring in coal, grain and bones from Kings Lynn by horse drawn lighters or barges. Return cargoes included sand and gravel from Pentney pits and bonemeal fertilizer from Narborough Bone Mill. The Marriott family were Lords of the Manor from 1857 - 1875 and proprietors of the navigation. Besides owning the wharf and maltings, they were also corn and coal merchants. Navigation above Narborough possibly ceased by the early nineteenth century. In 1881 the Marriotts sold the navigation to the Nar Valley Drainage Board who, as part of a projected drainage scheme, soon built a sluice at Kings Lynn that made further use of the Nar for navigation impossible. Thus the majority of commercial traffic on the Nar had ceased to operate by about 1885. |
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9th July 2007 |
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Robert Everett snr, a gentleman from Wymondham, married Sarah Frith in Derbyshire (she mentions her brother Philip Frith). They had 4 children (possibly not born in the order shown).
1. Joseph Everett, miller at Westacre mill married Martha Bloomfield in 1823 and they had a son, Joseph Frith Everett c.1824. However they both died, leaving Joseph Frith Everett an orphan at the age of 2.
2. Robert Everett jnr who is mentioned in his father's will of 1835 will got the remainder of his father's estate - that which had not been placed in Trusts etc. Robert & Harriet (née Bradfield) Everett were the parents of Frith Everett, who was born at Narborough in 1824. Robert was miller at Narborough and also at West Acre after his brother Joseph died c.1826.
3. John Everett, who had Henry & Jane - were also mentioned in the will of 1835.
4. Ann Everett who was obviously single in 1833 when the will was written but may have married later.
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Rear of mill 9th July 2007 |
Frith Everett was the son of Robert & Harriet Everett, he was born in 1824 and baptised at Narborough on 29th Febriuary 1824 where his father was miller. Frith Everett married Emily Fisher King. |
| Robert Everett later worked in partnership with his son, Frith Everett and they ran Narborough watermill in conjunction with Gaywood towermill, Homeland Road, King's Lynn until Robert died in 1870. |
Re ROBERT EVERETT & SON Notice is hereby given that the Partnership lately subsisting between Robert Everett & Frith Everett, both of Narborough in the county of Norfolk, in the business of Millers, Merchants & Bakers, carried on at Narborough & Gaywood_Mills in the said county, determined on the 28th day of May last by the death of the said Robert Everett & that the Business is now carried on by the said Frith Everett alone. And all persons having any Claims or Demands against the late Partnership Firm are requested to send particulars of their respective Claims & Demands to the said Frith Everett forthwith & all persons who stood indebted to the said Partnership Firm are requested to pay the amount of their respective debts to the said Frith Everett forthwith. Dated this 20th day of September 1870 T. G. Archer Solr. To the Executor of the said Robert Everett & the said Frith Everett |
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Norfolk, NARBOROUGH & GAYWOOD IN NARBOROUGH Lot 1. Narborough Water Mill … Lot 2. Residence … Lot 3. Dwelling houses … IN GAYWOOD Lot 4. The GAYWOOD_STEAM_&_WIND_MILLS with Dwelling house, Garden,
Cottage & Pasture Land adjoining. Norfolk Chronicle & Lynn Advertiser 21st July 1883 |
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9th July 2007 |
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In
1897 Frith Everett made a deed of Assignment for the benefit of his creditors:
"Conveyance of freehold Water mill and hereditaments situate of Narborough. Mortgages of Mr. Frith Everett to Lt. Col. Wm. Herring. Default having been made by Frith Everett on money owing for the mortgage Margaret Elizabeth Pumpfre Howes of Thorpe St, Andrew (Norfolk) Spinster + Charles Forster of the City of Norwich who were the mortgages put up the property for sale at public auction at the Globe Hotel, King's Lynn, 31st August 1897. Lot 2 (The Mill) was sold to Wm. Herring for £150. Consisting of Water Mill, with cartshed, stables and other buildings. Also the wheels gring (sic) gear iron and brass work apparatus and machinery belonging to the Mill." |
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Auxiliary drive pulleys 9th July 2007 |
Centre shaft 9th July 2007 |
Frith Everett was my great-grandfather. His father, Robert Everett, acquired the Narborough property after the death of Robert's uncle, Phillip Frith, who left Robert the Narborough property around 1846, I think. Before that time Robert and his brother, Joseph, apparently ran the mill at West Acre. They were born in Wymondham, where their father was a grocer. Robert, his wife, Harriet, Joseph and his wife, Martha, are all buried at West Acre. Robert may also have owned a mill at Gaywood. Robert had a son called Frederick, who lived in Swaffham and was in business with Robert's son-in-law, Richard Vynne. They may well have owned the maltings, which one stood across the road from the mill. Frith never returned to Norfolk. He died at the home of his son, my grandfather, Robert Bradfield Everett, in Kerrville, Texas and was buried there.
My father's name is Ned Everett - he is 93 years old, the last of the Everetts and lives in Hollister, California. His father, Robert Bradfield Everett, had six boys and they are all gone except for him. None of Robert's siblings had children. Louise Graham, Lexington, Kentucky, USA - 21st April 2005 |
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O.S. Map 2005 Image produced under licence from Ordnance Survey |
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1514: Sir John
Spelman was left the manor of Narborough ... including the water mill 1593: George
Jagges, miller
1824: Robert Everett, miller
White's 1854:
Frith Everett, corn miller and merchant, Narborough water mill and wharf, where much business is transacted in coal, timber, corn, malt etc.
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If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. By all means telephone 01263 587564 or
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| Nat Grid Ref TF74721320 | Copyright © Jonathan Neville 2003 |