in 1888, the board of trade enquired about the status of the company, and lindsey county council suggested that it should be abandoned. the secretary sold kirkby watermill, which had been used as the company workshops, to raise some capital with which to clear debts, and notified the board that the canal was effectively defunct. it was officially abandoned on 23 september 1889, but sand and gravel continued to be transported from kirkby on bain for another ten years, while the lower reaches of the canal remained in use until 1910 with boats taking coal from goole to the coningsby wharf of laythorpe and son, coal merchants.