River Nar looking north-east from near Pentney Abbey, west Norfolk, England UK
The Nar, a tributary of the Great Ouse, was canalised from the Great Ouse at King's Lynn to West Acre above the village of Narborough, the latter village being 12 miles on the way east to the market town of Swaffham and thence to East Dereham. Narborough was the seat of the Spelman family, Narborough Hall having been built by one Judge Spelman in the time of Henry VIII. There was thus the money and influence to get legislation for the creation of a navigable waterway from what was essentially a trout stream. A bill for the canalisation met no opposition and was passed in 1751. The scheme involved seven staunches, one open pen sluice and a basin at West Acre and was for horse-towed lighters carrying up to 10 tons or eight chaldrons of coal - but it would still beat the roads of the day. Work didn’t actually start until September 1757 and soon overran budget with £1,900 of the £2,500 estimate spent after 12 months and the river still nowhere near navigable. It became clear that two more staunches would be needed. Eventually the navigation opened in August 1759. But the arrival of the railway in 1848 took most of it business and navigation to Narborough ended in 1885 although barges continued to use the lower reaches for another few years.
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Photo credit: © John Worrall / Alamy / Afripics
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