Wharves were built in the town to handle the cargo and goods being loaded and unloaded from seagoing vessels.

Despite its loss of economic importance with the construction of the Furness Railway in the mid 19th century, the canal remained in commercial operation until the 1940s when it was eventually abandoned.

At its mouth, the Bay Horse Hotel stands on the site of an 18th-century coaching inn; the Cumbria Coastal Way crosses the canal at this point.

[1] Although it is about 1.25 miles (2.0 km) from the River Leven estuary which is part of Morecambe Bay, the town of Ulverston was declared to be a port in 1774,[2] which allowed goods to be shipped to other canals without the payment of sea duty.

This sum had been raised by May 1792, but by then the engineer John Rennie had produced proper plans for a ship canal, estimated to cost £3,084, including the construction of a sea lock.

However, Pinkerton and Murray were also working on the northern end of the Lancaster Canal, and they abandoned the contract in August 1795, when they could no longer pay the wages.

It was not until June 1797 that William Burnthwaite was appointed as clerk, and a project to build a warehouse and toll office began, funded by a further call on the shareholders.

A passenger ferry to Liverpool from Ulverston Canal started in 1835,[7] and it was later complemented by a service from Barrow-in-Furness to Fleetwood.

[8] In the 1800s there was a substantial shipbuilding industry at Ulverston, building wooden sailing ships which were strongly constructed to carry local ore rock cargoes.

Its western side is still industrialised, with a large GlaxoSmithKline factory (built on the site of the former iron works and paper mills).