Editing Wisbech (section)

===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>