It carried offal for the bone mills and agricultural products, as it proved cheaper to land coal on the beach at Mundesley and cart it overland than to use the canal.

The section above Swafield locks was abandoned in 1893, and from 1922 it was owned by the North Walsham Canal Company, set up by Edward Cubitt and George Walker, who were mill owners.

Later in his career he went to the United States of America and wrote ''Elements of Civil Engineering'' which includes much information on canal building.

Some wherries were of a slip-keel design, where the keel of a loaded boat could be unbolted from the bottom of the vessel while it was afloat, in order to negotiate the shallow waters of the canal.

In 1885, they decided to use this power, as Edward Press, the owner of Bacton Wood mill, and a trader with a fleet of wherries, wished to purchase it.

Edward Press was the general manager, although he was disqualified from the post as he profited from the canal, and there was no treasurer, despite the fact that the enabling act required one to be appointed.

[10] Press died on 2 July 1906, and a director of the General Estates Company called Mr Percy bought the canal at an auction held on 11 September 1907, for £2,550.

[9] Heavy flooding in August 1912 washed away several staithes, and resulted in a breach of the canal bank above Bacton Wood Lock.

[12] Cubitt and Walker dredged the canal from Wayford Bridge up to Bacton Wood in 1927, but at the same time dewatered the upper section above Swafield Lock.

[13] Decline continued and the wherry "Ella" made the final trading journey on the canal from Bacton Staithe in 1934.

Rather than repair it, the culvert was demolished, and the water from the canal was diverted, to rejoin the waterway below Bacton Wood lock.

[12] Robert Aickman and Teddy Edwards from the newly formed Inland Waterways Association visited the canal in 1953.

The newly formed Broads Authority was supportive, and in order to allow the work to proceed, the landowner bought the 2.25 miles (3.6 km) of canal below Honing Lock in October 1981.

They then commissioned and paid for a full environmental study, and North Norfolk District Council voiced their support in October 1999, although they did not envisage powered boats using the waterway.

The aims of the Trust are to "protect, conserve and improve the route of the canal and its branches for the benefit of the community and the environment."

[17] Having carried out extensive repair work at Ebridge Lock, a stop notice was issued by the Environment Agency in April 2012, and in November a public enquiry upheld the position.

[19] The residents of North Walsham made ten mosaics for the Millennium celebrations, one of which shows a Norfolk wherry.

In 2023 however, the North Walsham and Dilham Canal Trust produced a new light craft vision to outline their proposals for further restoration.

This involves returning the entire canal to unpowered craft status, with facilities to allow porterage where locks or other obstacles have yet to be restored.

The present building was reconstructed in 1747, and extensively modified in 1825, in anticipation of the canal opening, and the increase in trade that that might bring.

Its boiler exploded around 1910, and an 18 hp (13 kW) hot bulb engine manufactured by Richard Hornsby & Sons replaced it.

Sir William Cubitt, who invented the self-regulating windmill sail in 1807 and the prison treadmill in 1818, lived in the mill house during his childhood.

[31] The canal is defined as a main river,[32] which gives the Environment Agency powers to carry out flood defence works on it.

[33] The corridor through which the canal runs is susceptible to flooding, and there is a network of drains to mitigate this risk, which have been maintained by the Broads Internal Drainage Board (IDB) since 2006.

The path was formally opened by Norman Lamb, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk on 28 September 2008.

[44] The canal continues broadly northwards to reach Ebridge lock and mill, passing the former dyke to the hamlet of Meeting House Hill on its western bank.

Above Ebridge lock, the mill pond has been dredged and the banks cleared, to create a large expanse of open water.

Wildlife has benefitted, with sightings of water voles, Eurasian otters, reed warblers, dragonflies, kingfishers, wood sandpipers and a marsh harrier being recorded.

The piers remain, and a bowstring bridge carries pipes across the gap, but the footpath which follows the trackbed descends to the level of the canal and crosses it on a wooden footbridge.

[48] The route continues westwards, past the two Swafield locks, the lower one of which is still watered, and is crossed by another grade II listed bridge at Bradfield,[49] before reaching the terminus, just below Antingham ponds.