Norfolk Mills - Antingham Upper watermill

Antingham Bone Mill - Upper
River Ant /
North Walsham & Dilham Canal

The mill house October 1967

Antingham unsually had two watermills within a half a mile of each other - Antingham Upper and
Antingham Lower. Both were bone mills and it appears both were under the same ownership.

The mill house January 2003

The upper and smaller mill was built at the canal end of Antingham Pond. The mill was quite small and was joined to the mill house. It was connected to the main canal by a short waterway allowing a small fleet of boats to be used to transport goods between the two mills until the channel was filled in c.1905.

Bones from local butchers and slaughterhouses were crushed along with phosphates from ocean islands that arrived in the form of ships' ballast, which was then transported by rail to North Walsham station or by wherry up the canal. The resulting fertilizing compounds were then sold to Fisons. A staithe was built nearby as the canal terminated here in a basin 80 feet wide and 150 feet long. This section of the canal remained navigable until 1893 when Swafield staithe became the terminus. The mills ceased operation in the early 1920s and the buildings were demolished after the second world war.


Brickwork remains May 1968	Old watercourse May 1968

Tailrace March 1977

The North Walsham & Dilham Canal

This was the only official canal in Norfolk and was really the canalisation of the River Ant. It was made wider than most other canals in order to accommodate Norfolk wherries. The main cargoes were offal to the two Antingham Bone mills with return loads of fertiliser. Corn and flour moved in and out of Bacton Wood and Swafield mills with other commodities such as timber, farm produce and coal making up the majority of the remainder of trade. It was hoped that coal would be the mainstay cargo but this never materialised. The canal was just over 8¾ miles long, ran from Smallburgh to Antingham and contained 6 locks: Honing, Briggate mill, Ebridge mill, Bacton Wood mill, Swafield lower and Swafield Upper.

1812: Act of Parliament passed authorising construction of the canal

July 1826: Canal opened having cost £32,000 to build

1885: Ailing canal sold for £600 but the company's London solicitor absconded with the money

1886: Scheme introduced to encourage tourist traffic

c.1893: Antingham - Swafield section abandoned because of lack of traffic

1934: The wherry Ella, sailed from Bacton Wood Staithe for the last time

2003: Canal navigable for the first 2 miles as far as Honing Lock

Antingham Pond September 1967

Men were busy in the mills from January until the end of May, sometimes working until midnight. They then maintained the mill and went on to work on local farms.


Antingham Lower site in foreground and Antingham Upper at the foot of the pond 30th June 2004	Antingham Upper 30th June 2004

O.S. Map 2005
Image reproduced under licence from Ordnance Survey

White's 1836: Benson Smith, bone crusher

White's 1845: James Allison, bone crusher

Kelly's 1883: Edward Darby Horsfield, bone crusher

Kelly's 1892: Mrs Charlotte Horsfield, bone crusher

Kelly's 1896: Edward Horsfield, farmer, bone crusher and artificial manure manufacturer, Antingham Hall

Kelly's 1900, 1912, 1922, 1929 and 1937: Edward Horsfield, bone crusher

c.1946: Mill converted to residential use by Girling & Smith of Cromer, who also converted Itteringham Mill

If you have any memories, anecdotes or photos please let us know and we may be able to use them to update the site. By all means telephone 01263 713658 or

Nat Grid Ref TG26503247

Top of Page