The Nar Valley Benefice have organised an event on 22 & 23 August 2026 in the Nar Valley Churches called Everyone Has A Story about the people, communities and places of the Nar Valley. The event was advertised in the Nar Valley News magazine.
I decided to take part in this with my story of how I became involved with the bone mill. I wrote my story, printed and laminated it with pictures from our 10 Year Anniversary and restoration folders plus a few extra pictures and put them on old notice boards from the mill. The timing was good publicity for our open days a month later, so I printed some flyers for people to take. Displays also include a copy of our information board and the mill workers research folder with an added page showing the location of William Scott's grave in Narborough churchyard, he died in an accident at the bone mill in 1869. My story will be displayed in Narborough Church:-
My name is Graham Bartlett, I am from Surrey, but in 2009 I retired to Narborough. I often walked the Nar Valley Way and saw the large water wheel beside the river and thought it would be good to see it turning again. A few years later someone from the history society told me there were plans to restore the water wheel and the remains of the bone mill site with a grant. I made enquiries and spoke to the project organiser and said I would like to volunteer with the project when it starts.
It was a year later that work actually started, I remember the enthusiasm of the first day in March 2015 exploring the site and discovering hidden features like the underground cistern full of water, tunnels in several places and seeing the large water wheel close up.
We had work parties every Thursday and it was hard work digging for finds, removing soil & rubble from the water wheel and clearing brambles & nettles, but it was rewarding finding machinery parts, bones, and various other finds. One of the early discoveries was part of a human skull from exhumed German graveyards, these human bones were ground along with animal bones to make fertilizer in the 1800s.
Historic specialists restored the brick walls and water wheel, but the volunteers discovered and restored the rest of the site which was much bigger than expected, large brick floors from the buildings were among the first things to be uncovered.
The best day was after work on the water wheel was finished and we got the wheel turning by raising the river level enough to feed water into the wheel and we saw it turning for the first time. We have now installed a water feed pipe and pump to turn the wheel at our open days which we hold twice a year in May and September. I always enjoy setting up the site ready for open days and driving visitors to the mill from the car park along the river bank. Seeing the wheel turning is a spectacular sight and often reminds me of the overgrown wheel in the early days.
We now have a visitor centre with pictures of the old mill buildings, and finds on display which were discovered during digging. Last year we celebrated 10 years working at the mill, I made displays showing our progress over the years. I have been involved most of that time, updating the website, making bird nest boxes & installing nest cameras, making wildlife habitats, organising work parties to keep the site looking good and getting grants for projects including making a wildflower meadow. This variety of involvement has given me a lot of enjoyment over the years, I’ve made good friends and met many people during my time at the mill. We often see a varied selection of wildlife there and on our journeys along the river bank.
Volunteers work at the mill every Thursday, when access via our footbridge from the Nar Valley Way (starting from River Close) allows walkers to visit the mill to look around and see our visitor centre.
We are looking for more volunteers to help us, so if you would like to work at a beautiful tranquil place doing light enjoyable work, contact us through the website.
My wife Jan is a genealogist, she researched bone mill workers from the 1800s and found out about their lives, some have grave stones in Narborough and Pentney church yards. Two workers sadly died at the bone mill, another had his picture in the local paper, see the purple folder, their full stories are also on our website.
The next open days are 19 & 20 September 2026.
For more information about the bone mill, including videos of the water wheel turning, the story of the human skull bone, and the mill workers research, see the website
Interactive Plan Water Wheel Wall Restoration Human Skull Elevator Visitor Centre March 2015 Wheel Turning Meadow Nest Boxes Habitat Wildlife Bridge Volunteer Workers Open Days
Other pictures on the display board are the water wheel before and after restoration from our 10 year anniversary board, working in the early days, starting the wildflower meadow and the meadow in flower.
