Editing Wisbech (section)

== Governance ==
[[File:The Town Hall on North Brinks (geograph 4990882).jpg|thumb|[[Wisbech Town Hall]], part of the same building as the town's Corn Exchange]]
There are three tiers of local government covering Wisbech, at [[civil parish]] (town), [[non-metropolitan district|district]], and [[non-metropolitan county|county level]]: [[Wisbech Town Council]], [[Fenland District Council]], and [[Cambridgeshire County Council]]. The district and county councils are also members of the [[Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority]], led by the directly elected [[Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough]].<ref name="gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cambridgeshire-and-peterborough-set-for-new-mayor|title=Cambridgeshire and Peterborough set for new mayor| publisher=Government of the United Kingdom| access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref> The town council is based at [[Wisbech Town Hall]] on North Brink. Town council responsibilities include [[Allotment (gardening)|allotments]] and the market place.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wisbech Town Council |url=https://www.wisbechtowncouncil.gov.uk/ |access-date=26 December 2024}}</ref> In 2018 the council took a lease on [[Wisbech Castle]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/news/wisbech-town-council-agree-34-per-cent-precept-rise-1-5369056|title=Acquiring Wisbech Castle to put up town's local council tax by over 30 per cent – but do they have the skills to run the castle?|first=John| last=Elworthy| website=Wisbechstandard.co.uk| date=25 January 2018|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
{{further|Municipal Borough of Wisbech}}
Wisbech was anciently a [[feudal]] vill within the Wisbech [[Hundred (county division)|hundred]] of Cambridgeshire. The Wisbech hundred formed part of the [[Isle of Ely]], which was historically a [[Liberty (division)|liberty]] under the secular jurisdiction of the [[Bishop of Ely]]. The bishop's jurisdiction was ended by the Liberty of Ely Act 1837.<ref>Liberty of Ely Act 1837 (7 Will 4 & 1 Vict c. 53).</ref> The vill of Wisbech was divided around 1109 into two [[manorialism|manorial]] properties, which subsequently became the two parishes of [[Wisbech St Mary]] and Wisbech St Peter (the latter including the town itself).<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Pugh |editor1-first=R. B. |title=A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 4 |date=2002 |publisher=Victoria County History |location=London |pages=232–238 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol4/pp232-238 |access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref> The two were treated as separate [[civil parishes]] from an early date, but remained a single [[ecclesiastical parish]] until 1854.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Frederic John |title=History of Wisbech and Neighbourhood, During the last fifty years 1848–1898 |date=1898 |page=240 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_of_Wisbech_and_Neighborhood_Duri/MLUuAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA240&printsec=frontcover |access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume 1 |date=1979 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0901050679 |page=55}}</ref>

On 1 June 1549, [[Edward VI]] granted Wisbech a [[municipal charter]], incorporating it as a [[ancient borough|borough]]. The borough covered the same area as the civil parish of Wisbech St Peter and therefore included the town itself plus an extensive rural area stretching some {{convert|7|miles|km}} south-west of the town, including the hamlet of [[Ring's End]].<ref name=commissioners>{{cite book |title=Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales: Appendix 4 |date=1835 |pages=2551 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Report_of_the_Commissioners_Appointed_to/MHBTAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA2551&printsec=frontcover |access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Diagram of the Administrative Counties of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely, 1900 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241241641 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=25 December 2024}}</ref>

Wisbech was reformed to become a [[municipal borough]] in 1836 under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]], which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.<ref>{{cite book |title=Municipal Corporations Act |date=1835 |page=461 |url=https://archive.org/details/statutesunitedk35britgoog/page/460/mode/2up |access-date=26 December 2024}}</ref> The borough boundaries were reviewed in 1934. The borough gained part of the parish of [[Walsoken]] from Norfolk, including the more built-up area that had effectively become an eastern suburb of Wisbech, but leaving the church and the rural parts of Walsoken parish in Norfolk.<ref>{{cite journal|title= A Wisbech Wedding|last= Monger|first= Garry|journal= The Fens|page= 20|issue= 50|year= 2022|publisher= Natasha Shiels}}</ref> A boundary marker in Wisbech Park was erected to record the event.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-ohistory.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol4/pp266-268|title=Wisbech: Schools|website=British History Online|access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref> At the same time, the more rural part of the old borough, including Ring's End, was transferred from Wisbech to the neighbouring parish of [[Elm, Cambridgeshire|Elm]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol4/pp180-186|title=Wisbech Hundred: Elm|website=British History Online|access-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>

Between 1889 and 1965, the Isle of Ely was an [[administrative county]] with its own county council, whilst also forming part of the wider [[Ceremonial counties of England#Geographical counties 1889–1974|geographical county]] of Cambridgeshire. Between 1965 and 1974, the administrative county covering Wisbech was called [[Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Wisbech Municipal Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10073327#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=26 December 2024}}</ref>

The borough of Wisbech was abolished in 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]]. District-level functions passed to the new Fenland District Council. A [[successor parish]] called Wisbech was created covering the area of the abolished borough, with its parish council taking the name Wisbech Town Council.{{efn|The single [[urban parish]] within the borough prior to the 1974 reforms had been called 'Wisbech St Peter', although the borough itself was just called 'Wisbech'. The successor parish created in 1974 covering the same area as the borough was just called 'Wisbech'.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/wisbech.html|title=Wisbech Registration District| publisher=UKBMD| accessdate=21 January 2023}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government (Successor Parishes) (No. 2) Order 1973|year=1973|number=1939}}</ref> In 1990 further county boundary changes brought a small area of Walsoken, Norfolk into Wisbech.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1990/228/made|title=1990 Order no 228|publisher=Government of the United Kingdom|access-date=18 February 2019}}</ref>