35 Facts About Wisbech

Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England.

Wisbech is noteworthy for its fine examples of Georgian architecture, particularly the parade of houses along the North Brink, which includes the National Trust property of Peckover House and the circus surrounding Wisbech Castle.

Place name 'Wisbech' is first attested in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year 656, where it appears as Wisbeach.

The name Wisbech is popularly believed to mean "on the back of the Ouse", Ouse being a common Celtic word relating to water and the name of a river that once flowed through the town.

One of the first authentic references to Wisbech occurs in a charter dated 664 granting the Abbey at Medeshamstede land in Wisbech and in 1000, when Oswy and Leoflede, on the admission of their son Aelfwin as a monk, gave the vill to the monastery of Ely.

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Folktale of Tom Hickathrift or Wisbech Giant is sometimes set about the time of the Norman Invasion.

However, Wisbech probably comprised the whole area from Tydd Gote down to the far end of Upwell at Welney.

Bishop Matthew Wren was a staunch supporter of Charles I but even in 1640 was unpopular in Wisbech, after discovering his absence from a 'Commission of Sewers' meeting at the Castle, a crowd of soldiers plundered shops of some of his supporters.

Wisbech sat on the estuary of the River Great Ouse, but silting caused the coastline to move north, and the River Nene was diverted to serve the town.

The Wisbech Working Men's Club and Institute was formed as a result of an inaugural meeting in 1864.

Wisbech had been arrested on charges of criminal libel on the information of Dr Meacock.

Wisbech Canal joining the River Nene at Wisbech was filled in and became the dual carriageway leading into the town from the east.

In 1934 part of W ken parish, Norfolk was merged with Wisbech, bringing with it the schools, shops and public houses but leaving the church and much of the rural part in Norfolk.

On 21 September 1979, two Harrier jump jets on a training exercise collided over Wisbech; one landed in a field and the other in a residential area.

Wisbech was a municipal borough before the Local Government Act 1972 came into force in 1974.

Wisbech is within the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency.

Wisbech sits on either side of the River Nene, and its port is Cambridgeshire's only gateway to the sea.

Wisbech Fruit Preserving Company Ltd was wound up in 1894 and the site put up for sale.

Wisbech Produce Canners, on Lynn Rd, was the first in England to produce frozen asparagus, peas and strawberries.

Larger employers in Wisbech include Nestle Purina petcare, Cromwell Rd and Princes, Lynn Rd.

Wisbech Castle has started to attract visitors to its programme of events and activities.

Primary schools in Wisbech include: Clarkson Infant and Nursery School, St Peters Church of England Junior School, Orchards Church of England Academy, Peckover Primary School, The Nene Infant School, Ramnoth Junior School and Elm Road Primary School.

The Wisbech Players, formed in 1953, are now an integral part of the theatre.

Wisbech Castle was donated to the Isle of Ely County Council by the family of the former education director and is run by the town council.

The Wisbech Working Men's Institute and Social club's origins date to 1864.

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Wisbech Rock Festival is a Free Festival held in Wisbech Park and is run by the Town Council.

Wisbech is particularly noted for its fine examples of Georgian architecture.

Wisbech is noted for its unspoilt Georgian architecture, particularly along North Brink and The Crescent.

Wisbech 2019 Made in Minecraft: A different point of view was released.

Wisbech accompanied Lancelot Andrewes, bishop of Ely, from the episcopal palace at Downham.

Wisbech had visited the Isle of Ely in 1722 and observed:"That there are some wonderful engines for throwing up water, and such as are not to be seen any where else, whereof one in particular threw up, twelve hundred ton of water in half an hour, and goes by wind-sails, 12 wings or sails to a mill".

Wisbech attended horse races, the theatre, public balls, public suppers and assemblies.

Wisbech recorded his visit which was later published in 1875 in Diaries and Letters.

Wisbech was one of eight towns featured in Old Towns Revisited published by Country Life Ltd in 1952.

In November 2018 Wisbech featured in an article in the Daily Telegraph by Jack Rear entitled "The spirited English town with some of Britain's best forgotten history".