Editing Wisbech (section)

==History==

=== Toponymy ===
The place name "Wisbech" is first attested in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' for the year 656, where it appears as ''Wisbeach''. It is recorded in the 1086 [[Domesday Book]] as ''Wisbeach''. The name Wisbech is popularly believed to mean "on the back of the (River) Ouse", Ouse being a common [[Celtic languages|Celtic word]] relating to water and the name of [[River Great Ouse|a river]] that once flowed through the town. A more scholarly opinion is that the first element derives from the [[River Wissey]], which used to run to Wisbech, and that the name means 'the valley of the river Wissey'.<ref>[[Eilert Ekwall]], ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.526.</ref>
A wide range of spellings is found on trade tokens in the Wisbech & Fenland Museum and in newspapers, books, maps and other documents, e.g. ''Wisbece'', ''Wisebece'', ''Wisbbece'', ''Wysbeche'', ''Wisbeche'', ''Wissebeche'', ''Wysebeche'', ''Wysbech'', ''Wyxbech'', ''Wyssebeche'', ''Wisbidge'', ''Wisbich'' and ''Wisbitch'',<ref>{{cite journal|last=Devenish|first=David|title=Trade Tokens of Wisbech|journal=Annual Report|volume=53|pages=28–33|year=1992|publisher=Wisbech Society}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/18810909/010/0006?noTouch=true|title=To the Editor|newspaper=Stamford Mercury|date=9 September 1881}}</ref>
until the spelling of the name of the town was fixed by the local council in the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|title= Numismatics|url= https://www.wisbechmuseum.org.uk/collections/|website= www.wisbechmuseum.org.uk|accessdate= 3 April 2021}}</ref>

=== Pre-Roman ===
During the [[Iron Age]], the area where Wisbech would develop lay in the west of the [[Britons (historical)|Brythonic]] [[Iceni]] tribe's territory. Icenian coins have been found in both [[March, Cambridgeshire|March]] and Wisbech.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely |volume=VII |editor-first1=J.J. |editor-last1=Wilkes |editor-first2=C.R. |editor-last2=Elrington |publisher=Oxford University Press|year= 1978 }}</ref>

=== Anglo-Saxon ===
Like the rest of Cambridgeshire, Wisbech was part of the [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] Kingdom of [[East Anglia (Kingdom)|East Anglia]]. It served as a port on [[The Wash]].<ref>{{cite book|title= Anglo-Saxon Hydraulic Engineering in The Fens|author= Michael Chisholm|year= 2021|page= 27|publisher= Shaun Tyas}}</ref>

One of the first authentic references to Wisbech occurs in a charter dated 664 granting the Abbey at [[Medeshamstede]] (now [[Peterborough]]) land in Wisbech<ref>{{cite book |title=Cemeteries, Graveyards And Memorials | author= Bridget Holmes | publisher= The Wisbech Society and Preservation Trust Ltd | year= 2010 }}</ref> 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, Cambridgeshire|Ely]].<ref>J. Bentham, Hist. Ely, 87.{{full citation needed|date=February 2020}}</ref>

=== Norman ===
The folktale of [[Tom Hickathrift]] or Wisbech Giant is sometimes set about the time of the [[Norman Invasion]].

In 1086, when Wisbech was held by the abbot, there may have been some 65 to 70 families, or about 300 to 350 persons, in Wisbech manor. However, Wisbech (which is the only one of the Marshland vills of the Isle to be mentioned in the [[Domesday Book]]) probably comprised the whole area from [[Tydd Gote]] down to the far end of [[Upwell]] at [[Welney]].<ref>Wisbech: Manors', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4: City of Ely; Ely, N. and S. Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds (2002), pp. 243–245.</ref>

A castle was built by [[William I of England|William I]] to fortify the site. At the time of Domesday (1086) the population was that of a large village. Some were farmers and others were fishermen.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.localhistories.org/wisbech.html|title=Wisbech|website=Local Histories|access-date= 24 August 2019}}</ref>

[[Richard I]] gave Wisbech a charter exempting the residents from paying tolls at markets across England.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Samuel |title=A Topographical Dictionary of England |date=1848 |location=London |pages=625–629 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp625-629 |access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> King [[John of England]] visited the castle on 12 October 1216 as he came from [[King's Lynn|Bishop's Lynn]]. Tradition has it that his baggage train was lost to the incoming tide of [[The Wash]]. Treasure hunters still seek the lost royal treasure.<ref>{{cite book |title=The mystery of King John's treasure |author= Shirley Carter |year= 2018 }}</ref>

On 12 November 1236 the village of Wisbech was inundated by the sea. Hundreds were drowned, entire flocks of sheep and herds of cattle were destroyed, trees felled and ships lost.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1236-11-12 |url=https://www.surgewatch.org/events/1236-11-12/ |access-date=2022-03-28 |website=SurgeWatch |date=12 November 1236 |language=en-US}}</ref> The castle was "utterly destroyed" but was rebuilt by 1246 when the constable or keeper was William Justice.

King [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] visited Wisbech in 1292, 1298, 1300 and 1305.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Vol 4, City of Ely, N. and S. Witchford and Wisbech Hundreds |pages=251–252 |publisher=Victoria County History |year=2002}}</ref>

[[Wisbech Grammar School]] dates back to 1379 or earlier. The register of Bishop [[John Fordham (bishop)|John Fordham]] of Ely records the appointment of a Master of the Grammar Scholars in 1407.

===Early Modern===

[[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]] visited Wisbech in 1469.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lysons|first=Samuel|date=18 August 2018|title=Magna Britannia;: Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-zwJAAAAIAAJ&q=Edward+I+and+Edward+IV+visits+to+wisbech&pg=PA289|access-date=18 August 2018|publisher=T. Cadell and W. Davies|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1549, Wisbech was incorporated as a [[ancient borough|borough]] under a [[municipal charter|charter]] from [[Edward VI]].<ref name=commissioners/> In the same year, William Bellman gave a plot of land for the [[Wisbech Grammar School]] schoolhouse.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Victoria History of the count is of England: Cambridge and the isle of Ely vol II | first= LF | last = Salzman| publisher = Dawson's of Pall Mall | year=1967 }}</ref>
In 1333–4 the kiln in the town was producing 120,000 bricks. There were several fisheries belonging to the manor of Wisbech and in the 1350s the reeves of Walton and Leverington each sent a porpoise to Wisbech Castle, and the reeve of Terrington a swordfish.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVATDAAAQBAJ&q=plague+wisbech&pg=PA30|title=Decision making in Mediaeval Agriculture|via=google.co.uk|access-date=1 November 2019|isbn=9780199247769|last1=Stone|first1=David|date=29 September 2005|publisher=OUP Oxford }}</ref>

During the reigns of [[Elizabeth I]], [[James VI and I|James I]], and [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], there was a state ecclesiastical prison in Wisbech for Catholics, many of whom died there owing to the insanitary conditions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisbech-society.co.uk/castle.html |title=The Wisbech Society & Preservation Trust, The Castle|website=Wisbech-society.co.uk|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref>
A dispute arising amongst the Catholic prisoners was widely known as the [[Wisbech Stirs]].
In 1588 it is claimed that [[Robert Catesby]] and [[Francis Tresham]] were committed to Wisbeach Castle on the approach of the [[Spanish Armada]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Memoirs of the court of James I|url= https://archive.org/details/memoirscourtkin07aikigoog| author= Lucy Aikin|publisher= Longman|year=1822}}</ref> Among those held there was [[John Feckenham]], the last [[Abbot of Westminster]]. The palace was demolished and replaced with [[John Thurloe]]'s mansion in the mid-17th century, and Thurloe's mansion demolished in 1816 by [[Joseph Medworth]], who also developed The Circus comprising [[The Crescent, Wisbech|The Crescent]], Union Place and Ely Place with Museum Square and Castle Square familiar as the settings in numerous costume dramas.

In 1620 former Wisbech residents William White and Dorothea Bradford (née May) sailed on the [[Mayflower]] to the [[New World]] with her husband [[William Bradford (governor)|William Bradford]] later to be Governor Bradford.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mayflower400uk.org/education/mayflower-passengers-list-an-interactive-guide/|title=Mayflower passenger list|website=www.mayflower400uk.org|access-date= 25 August 2019}}</ref>

=== English Civil War and Commonwealth ===
Across the Eastern Counties, [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s powerful [[Eastern Association]] was eventually dominant. However, to begin with, there had been an element of [[Royalist]] sympathy within Wisbech. Bishop [[Matthew Wren]] was a staunch supporter of [[Charles I of England|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. The town was near the frontier of the [[Parliamentary]] and Royalist forces in 1643. The Castle and town were put into a state of readiness and reinforced. A troop of horse was raised. Locally based troops took part in the [[Siege of Crowland]] in 1642. The town controlled the route from Lincolnshire to Norfolk particularly during the Siege of [[King's Lynn]] in 1643 as it prevented reinforcements by land of the Royalists holding the Norfolk port.<ref>{{cite book|title=A history of Wisbech Castle|author= George Anniss|publisher= EARO|year=1977}}</ref>

A town library was founded {{circa|1653}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://specialcollections-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=16064|title=Special Collections|website=Cambridge University Library|date=24 April 2018 |access-date= 23 August 2019}}</ref>

In 1656 the bishop's palace was replaced by [[Thurloe]]'s mansion however after the Restoration the property reverted to the Bishops of Ely.<ref>{{cite book|title=A history of Wisbech Castle|author= George Anniss| publisher= EARO|year=1977}}</ref>

===Eighteenth century===
Soap was taxed and manufacturers such as the Wisbech Soap Company required a licence. Based in an Old Market property facing the river, they were able to receive oil from the blubber yards of King's Lynn as well as coal, wood for casks and olive oil used in making the coarse, sweet and grey (speckled) soaps they produced from 1716 to about 1770.<ref>{{cite book|title=37th Annual Report| author=anonymous|publisher=The Wisbech Society|year=1976}}{{page needed|date=February 2020}}</ref>

Wisbech's first workhouse was located in Albion Place and opened in 1722. It could accommodate three hundred inmates and cost £2,000.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Somerville|first=Eric|title=The Poor Laws and Poor Relief in Wisbech|journal=Discovering Wisbech|volume=13|page=26|publisher=Discovering Magazines}}</ref>
[[File:Peckover-house-wisbech.jpg|thumb|[[Peckover House]] on North Brink by the Nene]] [[Peckover House|Bank House]], with its walled garden, was built in 1722 and purchased by the [[Quaker]] Peckover banking family in the 1790s. The Peckover Bank later became part of [[Barclays Bank]]. The house is now owned by the [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] and known as Peckover House.

In the 17th century, the inhabitants of the Fens became known as the "Fen Tigers" for their resistance to the draining of the common marshes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boyce, James (Historian)|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1158215738|title=Imperial mud : the fight for the Fens|date=2 July 2020|isbn=978-1-78578-651-8|location=London|oclc=1158215738}}</ref> But the farmland created by drainage transformed Wisbech into a wealthy port handling agricultural produce. It was from this period that much of the town's architectural richness originates.

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.

In 1781 Wisbech Literary Society was formed at the house of Jonathan Peckover.<ref name="History of Wisbech and Neighborhood">{{cite book|first=Frederic John |last=Gardiner|title=History of Wisbech and Neighborhood, During the Last Fifty Years – 1848–1898|publisher=Gardiner & Co|year=1898|url=https://archive.org/stream/historywisbecha00gardgoog/historywisbecha00gardgoog_djvu.txt|access-date=3 October 2019|via=archive.org}}</ref>

Theatres in both Pickard's Lane (a barn) and North End and a third (temporary structure) in the High Street are referred to.
A new theatre (now part of the [[Angles Theatre]] had been built in Deadman's Lane (later Great Church Street, now Alexandra Road) now [[Angles Theatre]] c. 1790. It was used to hold the auction of the contents of the castle, part of the estate of Edward Southwell on 8 November 1791.<ref>
{{cite news|title=To be sold by auction|newspaper=Stamford Mercury|date=4 November 1791|page= 2}}</ref>

One of the earliest Female Friendly Societies was the Wisbech [[Female Friendly Society]] instituted on 1 February 1796.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30999082255&searchurl=an%3Dwisbech%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dfemale%2Bfriendly%2Bsociety%2Bnotice&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1#&gid=1&pid=1|website= Abe Books|title= Wisbech Female Friendly Society|accessdate= 20 October 2021}}</ref>

===Nineteenth century===
Wisbech and Ely shared the Isle of Ely [[Assizes]], as a result the 1819 trial of Israel Garner and James Colbank, two local men, took place in Ely and sentence of hanging took place in Wisbech.<ref>{{cite news|title= Law Intelligence|newspaper= Statesman (London) |date= 17 July 1819|page= 4}}</ref>
Wisbech Regatta was first held in 1850.<ref>{{cite news|title= Wisbech Regatta|newspaper=Peterborough Advertiser|date= 10 August 1850|page=3}}</ref>

June 1858 The Russian Gun.
—During the past week a brass plate has been added to the Russian Gun, bearing the inscription: — "This trophy of the late Russian War, presented by Queen Victoria to the Burgesses of Wisbech. Thomas Steed Watson, Mayor, 1858.<ref>{{cite news|title= The Russian Gun |newspaper= Cambridge Independent Press |date= 19 June 1858 |page= 7}}</ref>

The ''Isle of Ely and Wisbech Advertiser'' was founded in 1845.<ref>{{cite book|title=Wisbech Charter Celebrations|author= Wisbech Borough Council|publisher=Balding and Mansell}}</ref>

The [[Wisbech & Fenland Museum]] opened in 1847 and continues to collect, care for and interpret the natural and cultural heritage of Wisbech and the surrounding area.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wisbechmuseum.org.uk|title=Wisbech Museum|website=Wisbech and Fenland Museum|access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref>

On 1 March 1848 Eastern Counties Railway opened Wisbeach (''sic'') station (later renamed [[Wisbech East railway station]]). It closed on 9 September 1968.

In the 1853–54 cholera epidemic 176 deaths were reported in the town in 1854.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The History of Cholera in Great Britain|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine|volume=41|issue=3|pages=165–173|doi=10.1177/003591574804100309|pmid=18905493|pmc=2184374|year=1948|last1=Underwood|first1=E. Ashworth}}</ref> The Wisbech death rate (49 per 10,000) was the fourth highest in the country. The following year saw £8,000 expenditure on sewerage works and £13,400 on water supplies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol4/p261|title=Wisbech: Epidemics, sanitation|website=British History Online|access-date=11 September 2018}}</ref>

New public buildings such as the Exchange Hall and Public Hall (1851) provided modern larger venues for theatrical and other events. [[Fanny Kemble]] gave Shakespearean readings in 1855 at the Public Hall.<ref>{{cite news|title= Mrs Fanny Kemble|newspaper= Cambridge Independent Press |date= 20 January 1855|page= 8}}</ref>

On Sunday 29 June 1857 a mob entered the town and broke the corn exchange's windows and seized corn and demanded money from shopkeepers. On July the gentry and traders recruited about 500 men and went to Upwell, captured 60 people and placed them in irons. On 4 September a report was made to the lords justices of 14 malefactors condemned at Wisbech for a riot; two were sentenced to be executed the following Saturday and twelve for transportation.<ref>{{cite news|title=June 29|newspaper=Stamford Mercury|date= 21 August 1857|page= 6}}</ref>
The Wisbech Working Men's Club and Institute was formed in 1864. It was once considered one of the most financially successful of its type in England. It remains one of the oldest.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol4/pp268-269|title= Miscellaneous institutions|website= British History Online|accessdate= 24 September 2021}}</ref>

In 1864 the castle estate was purchased by Alexander Peckover. In 1932 his descendant Alexandrina Peckover gave to the borough council a piece of land to be laid out as an ornamental garden adjoining the War memorial.<ref>{{cite book|title=A history of Wisbech Castle|author= George Aniss|publisher= EARO| year= 1977}}</ref> The town hosted the [[British Archaeological Association]]'s annual Congress in 1878.<ref>{{cite news|title= Archaeology at Wisbech|newspaper= Illustrated London News |date= 24 August 1878|page= 10}}</ref>

In August 1883 [[Wisbech and Upwell Tramway]] opened. It eventually closed in 1966 (passenger services finished in 1927). The steam trams were replaced by diesels in 1952.

The ''[[Archant|Wisbech Standard]]'' newspaper was founded in 1888 and ceased printing in 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/home/about-us|title=About Us|website=Wisbech Standard|access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2022/news/newsquest-says-no-plans-to-shut-more-papers-amid-further-print-closures/|website= www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk|accessdate= 30 October 2022|title= Closures}}</ref>

===Twentieth century===
In April 1904 the borough council contracted with the National Electric Construction Company Ltd for the installation of electric street lighting.<ref>{{cite news| title= Electric Light for Wisbech| newspaper= Eastern Daily Press| date= 9 April 1904|page= 8}}</ref>

On 30 October 1913 the [[Riot Act]] was read by the mayor in response to civil unrest in response to the death of the popular surgeon Doctor Horace Dimock. He had been arrested on charges of criminal libel on the information of Dr Meacock. On hearing that Dimock had taken his own life a crowd formed and smashed the windows of Meacock's residence on the North Brink. The police charged the crowds and cleared the streets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enidporterproject.org.uk/content/villages/wisbech/mayor-reads-riot-act-wisbech|title=Riot Act| website=enidporterproject.org.uk}}</ref>

The [[Wisbech Canal]] joining the River Nene at Wisbech was subsequently filled in and became the dual carriageway leading into the town from the east (now crossing the bypass).<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.cambstimes.co.uk/what-s-on/photos-of-wisbech-in-the-1960s-70s-and-a-history-of-wisbech-canal-to-go-on-show-1-3040558|title=Photos of Wisbech in the 1960s–70s and a history of Wisbech Canal to go on show|first=Elaine| last=King| website=Cambstimes.co.uk| date=27 November 2013|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref>

Wisbech War Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1921.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/Wisbech1914-19.html|title=Wisbech War Memorial| website=roll-of-honour.com| access-date= 5 September 2019}}</ref>

In 1929 The Wisbech Pageant was held at Sibalds Holme Park on 4–5 September. The Pageant Master was Sir [[Arthur Bryant]] who had experience with the Cambridgeshire Pageant 1924, Oxfordshire Pageant 1926 and London Empire Pageants of 1928 and 1929. The Wisbech total attendance was estimated in excess of 25,000 people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1242/|title=Wisbech Pageant 1929| website=historicalpageants.ac.uk| access-date= 5 September 2019}}</ref>

In 1939 Wisbech Society and Preservation Trust was founded to safeguard the history and heritage of Wisbech.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wisbech-society.co.uk|title=Wisbech Society| website=Wisbech Society| access-date=24 August 2019}}</ref> In 

In 1949 the borough celebrated the 400th anniversary of receiving its charter. The Pageant in Sibalds Holme Park, Barton Road featured over 600 performers.<ref>{{cite book| title=Wisbech Charter Celebrations 1549–1949|author=Cyril Swinson| publisher= Balding & Mansell| year= 1949}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1333/|title=The Pageant of Wisbech 1949|website=historicalpageants.ac.uk| access-date= 5 September 2019}}</ref>

The first Wisbech Rose Fair was held in 1963 when local rose growers sold rose buds in the parish church in aid of its restoration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisbech-rosefair.co.uk|title=Wisbech Rose Fair| website=wisbech-rosefair.co.uk| access-date= 5 September 2019}}</ref>

The following year the borough twinned with [[Arles]] and set up a Wisbech-Arles twinning club.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper= Fenland Citizen| title= New Chair for Wisbech-Arles Twinning Club| date= 31 August 2021|page= 5}}</ref>
The first purpose-built council-run Caravan Site that accommodates travellers in the UK was built in 1975.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=780453|title= First purpose-built gypsy camp in Britain| website= EAFA| access-date= 15 November 2021}}</ref>

On 21 September 1979, two [[Harrier jump jet]]s on a training exercise collided over Wisbech; one landed in a field and the other in a residential area. Two houses and a bungalow were demolished on Ramnoth Road, causing the death of Bob Bowers, his two-year-old son Jonathan Bowers, and former town mayor Bill Trumpess.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21/newsid_2525000/2525419.stm|title=1979: Harrier crash kills three| date=21 September 1979|access-date=18 August 2018|publisher=BBC}}</ref>

The 5-mile (8&nbsp;km), £6&nbsp;million [[A47 road|A47]] Wisbech/West Walton bypass opened in spring 1982. The Horsefair shopping centre opened by [[Noel Edmunds]] in 1988 is on part of Hill Street and the site of the old [[Horse Fair]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.horsefairshoppingcentre.co.uk| title= Horsefair| website=www.horsefairshopingcentre.co.uk|access-date=9 January 2020}}</ref>

===Contemporary===

In 2009 Oxford Archaeology East (OAE) organised a dig at [[Wisbech Castle]] to search for remains of the Bishop's Palace.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/uncovering-wisbech-castle-s-quot-lost-quot-bishop-s-palace-1-136037|title=Bishop's Palace|website=peterboroughtoday.co.uk|access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref> Large numbers of local volunteers took part and hundreds of children visited the dig site. Later in the year a group of volunteers formed Fenland Archaeological Society (FenArch)www.fenarch.org.uk. The Society has carried out a number of digs including the [[Manea, Cambridgeshire|Manea]] Colony dig organised by Cambridge Archaeology Unit (CAU).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cambstimes.co.uk/news/big-fenland-dig-uncovers-the-mysteries-of-the-manea-colony-1-4718336|title=Manea Colony|website=cambstimes.co.uk|date=2 October 2016|access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref>

An initiative to deal with the issues of derelict buildings in the town was initiated in 2013. This led to the £1.9M four-year Wisbech High Street project. {{as of|2022}}, a number of sites in the high street are covered in scaffolding whilst work is in progress. The [[Wisbech & Fenland Museum]] currently was closed whilst scaffolding supported the roof replacement, it reopened in February 2022.<ref>{{cite web|title= Wisbech|url= https://www.highstreetwisbech.org.uk|website= www.highstreet.org.uk|accessdate= 2 April 2021}}</ref> Following the publication of the Friends of Wisbech & Fenland Museums series of booklets ''Images of Wisbech'' contains images taken by [[Geoff Hastings]], research uncovered an archive of images from the Wisbech Borough council, some of these were incorporated in ''Lost Images of Wisbech'' published in 2020.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Lost Images of Wisbech|last= Fletcher|first= Taleyna|publisher= Discovering Magazines|volume= 33|year= 2020|journal= Discovering Wisbech|pages= 10–11}}</ref>

The town is well known for horticulture, in 2018 the town won the business improvement district (BID) category gold award at the [[Royal Horticultural Society]]'s (RHS) annual [[Britain in Bloom]] awards ceremony.<ref>{{cite book|title=Wisbech Official Guide and Map|author=anonymous| publisher= Wisbech town council| year=2019}}</ref> In 2019 the town received Gold Award in the large town category in the RHS Anglia in Bloom completion. Waterlees was 'Best in Group' and Gold Award in Urban category and St Peters Gardens a Gold Award in the Small Parks category.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/news/list-of-winners-from-anglia-in-bloom-1-6261825|title=Anglia in Bloom|website=wisbechstandard.co.uk|access-date= 9 September 2019}}</ref> The town mayor for 2020-2021, a licence holder of Elgood's Angel Inn breached Covid19 regulations in December 2020. A meeting of the Fenland District Council licensing committee removed the licence.<ref>{{cite news|title= Fate of Mayor's pub licence hangs in the balance|newspaper= Wisbech Standard|page= 4|date= 19 March 2021}}</ref>