Staithe is a Norse word meaning a landing stage. In Aylsham it referred to the area of warehouses and open storage used for goods arriving at and leaving from the river basin.

Wherries and the Navigation

Millgate was already a busy industrial area, but its importance increased with the opening of the Aylsham Navigation. An Act of Parliament passed in 1773 authorised the widening and deepening of the River Bure from Coltishall towards Aylsham, with locks installed to maintain water levels. It was one of the largest engineering projects Norfolk had seen, completed entirely by hand. The Navigation finally reached Aylsham in 1779, although the planned extension to Ingworth was abandoned due to rising costs.

The Navigation linked Aylsham with Great Yarmouth and allowed wherries to transport coal, grain, flour, timber and other goods. At its peak, around 26 wherries operated on the route, and several were built locally. The nearby Dunkirk area prospered, with warehouses, a kiln, a tannery, and boat-building and repair businesses, particularly those of the Wright family.

The Railway

The East and Midland Railway, later the Midland and Great Northern Railway, opened Aylsham North Station in 1883. The line carried both passengers and freight, including sugar beet, which became an important source of traffic in later years. The station closed in 1959 and was demolished, although the former trackbed survives today as part of the Weaver's Way.

The Flood of 1912

On 20 August 1912, after weeks of heavy rain, more than seven inches fell in a single day, causing devastating floods. Water reached first-floor windows in some buildings and residents were rescued by boat. Locks, bridges and the railway embankment were badly damaged, and a train remained stranded at Aylsham North for six weeks. The destruction of the Navigation's locks effectively ended commercial river traffic, and the Aylsham Navigation formally closed in 1928.