Walsham & Dilham Canal

restoration Feature

On Norfolk’s only canal, the North Walsham & Dilham, the local trust is picking itself

North Walsham & Dilham Canal

In 1995 Laurie Ashton and his wife, Julie, bought Bacton Wood Water Mill, in North Norfolk. They set about restoring the mill’s machinery, but, with a dry mill race, they needed water returning. Hence, in 2009, they set up the Old Canal Company, which then purchased some 2½ miles of the disused North Walsham & Dilham Canal from Swafield Bridge to Ebridge. Although their section of the Canal was dry, the top mile did have a flow of water, and the bottom section, to Ebridge was in water, although choked. It wasn’t long before engineer Laurie decided to restore the waterway back to the former sailing canal that it had once been. Back in 1934 the last commercial wherry (Norfolk sailing barge) had delivered cargo to his Mill.

Laurie’s restoration was purely at his own expense. He bought an exBritish Waterways dredger and, with a friend Jeremy and his digger, de-silted the bottom mile from Ebridge to Spa Common, returning the water to its full height. Unfortunately, his dredging licence had expired, and the work led to a Stop Notice being issued by the Environment Agency in 2012. However, that section of Canal was by then fully restored, and soon became an important community asset, especially during the Covid pandemic. Anglers, canoeists, paddleboarders, walkers, picnickers, gongoozlers, model boaters and even a Wild Swimming Club have made it their home.

Pictures by NW&DCT Bacton Wood Lock before and after restoration and regating

North Walsham & Dilham Canal

up and moving forward after the shock loss of its leading light Laurie Ashton

The NW&DC Trust, whose aim is to restore the whole canal, aided Laurie with voluntary labour, mitigation & compensatory works and support. This led to eventually taking over the bank and water maintenance of the restored mile, through the purchase of a tractor, weedcutter and tools. The Trust also raised funds to reinstate the top gates at Ebridge Lock, rebuild the spillways at Royston and Ebridge (the latter also aided by a WRG Canal Camp) and run a solar powered electric trip boat.

Meanwhile, Laurie turned his attentions to the dry and upper sections of the canal, reinstating the channel, building up the banks and most importantly (with the aid of a retired brickie) rebuilding the lock chamber at Bacton Wood (some 60,000 bricks). Needing gates for his lock, he built a shed and manufactured the gates himself, the top gates using timbers that had been recycled from the groynes of Cromer Beach. The gates were fitted, with the help of the Trust, and now just need the waters reintroduced.

Sadly, in 2021, Laurie died whilst out working on his beloved Canal. This came as a great shock to everyone involved, as the driving force of this David Hutchings (*) type character was suddenly lost. (*) Restoration legend who masterminded the Stratford and Upper Avon schemes Dredger and digger de-silting Ebridge Mill Pond

Late in 2021, after some 9 years of negotiating by the Trust, the EA removed the Stop Notice. Sadly, Laurie never saw this day come to fruition. However, this is a major step forward for the Canal’s restoration Laurie Ashton 1948-2021 as a whole, for although the other three canal owners did not actually have a Stop Notice applied to them, the shadow of its threat had prevented them from moving forward with their own plans.

The NW&DCT and Laurie’s great friend Jeremy, who had undertaken most of the channel work on the canal restoration, have agreed to move on with two main projects in his memory. Jeremy is to continue to build up the banks of the one and half miles of canal to Swafield, with the aim of re-watering that section this year, whilst the Trust looks to raising the funds to restore the bottom gates at Ebridge, hence enabling boats to pass through to the next section to be restored, to the south.

Ivan Cane

The North Walsham & Dilham Canal is the only canal (as opposed to a river navigation) in Norfolk. Opened in 1826, it formed an extension upstream from the navigable River Ant, following the route of the unnavigable reaches of the river. It ran for nine miles from Wayford Bridge on the Ant to Antingham Ponds, climbing by six locks built to take Norfolk wherries (sailing barges) up to 50ft by 12ft 4in. The canal carried cargoes including coal, agricultural produce, and supplies to two bone mills, but traffic declined with the arrival of the railways. In 1893 the length above Swafield was abandoned, and in 1934 the wherry Ella made the final trading journey, after which the canal fell into dereliction and the channel silted up. Restoration was proposed by David Hutchings in 1972; in the 1990s the East Anglian Waterways Association commissioned restoration studies and carried out working parties, and the North Walsham & Dilham Canal Trust was founded in 2008.

North Walsham & Dilham Canal

Length: 9 miles Locks: 6 Date disused: 1934