Wisbech facts for kids

Wisbech
North Brink
Wisbech shown within Cambridgeshire
Population	31,573 (2011)
OS grid reference	TF4609
Civil parish	Wisbech
District	Fenland
Shire county	Cambridgeshire
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	WISBECH
Postcode district	PE13 PE14
Dialling code	01945
Police	Cambridgeshire
Fire	Cambridgeshire
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	North East Cambridgeshire

Wisbech (/ˈwɪzbiːtʃ/) is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, England. It has a population of 31,573. The tidal River Nene runs through the centre of the town and is spanned by two bridges. The name is believed to mean on the back of the (River) Ouse, Ouse being a common Celtic word relating to "water" and the name of a river that once flowed through the town. Since 2011 Wisbech has become the second largest town in Cambridgeshire (after St Neots; Before the Local Government Act 1972 came into force in 1974 Wisbech was a municipal borough.

History

During the Iron Age, the area where Wisbech would develop lay in the west of the Brythonic Iceni tribe's territory. Like the rest of Cambridgeshire, Wisbech was part of the kingdom of East Anglia after the Anglo-Saxon invasion.

The first authentic reference to Wisbech occurs c. 1000, when Oswy and Leoflede, on the admission of their son Aelfwin as a monk, gave the vill to the monastery of Ely. (J. Bentham, Hist. Ely, 87). In 1086 Wisbech was held by the abbot, there may have been some 65 to 70 families, or about 300 to 350 persons, in Wisbech manor. It must be remembered, however, that 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.

Wisbech Castle was built by William I to fortify the town, and during the reign of Elizabeth, James I and Charles I became a state ecclesiastical prison, incarcerating Catholics, many of whom died there of insanitary conditions. Among those held there were John Feckenham, the last Abbot of Westminster, and later two of the key participants in the Gunpowder Plot, Robert Catesby and Francis Tresham. The castle was rebuilt in the mid-17th century, and again in 1816 by Joseph Medworth, who also developed The Crescent, familiar as the setting in numerous costume dramas.

Peckover House on North Brink by the Nene in Wisbech.

Peckover House, with its fine walled garden, was built for the Quaker banking family in 1722 and now owned by the National Trust. Formerly known as Bank House, the Peckover Bank later became part of Barclays Bank.

In the 17th century, the local inhabitants became known as the "Fen Tigers" because of their resistance to the draining of the fens, but the project turned Wisbech into a wealthy port handling agricultural produce. At this time Wisbech was 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 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).

On 27 June 1970, the heaviest point rainfall was recorded in Wisbech, when 2 inches (50.8 mm) fell in just 12 minutes during the Rose Fair.[1]

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. 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.

The five-mile (8-kilometre), £6 million A47 Wisbech/West Walton bypass opened in spring 1982.

The port now houses a large number of berths for yachts adjacent to the Boathouse development.

On 19 January 2012, BBC Look East reported that there were growing tensions in the town where one-third of the population are East European migrants.

The town's market days are Thursday and Saturday.

Culture

Museum Square, Wisbech

The Angles Theatre is a thriving professional theatre, run almost entirely by volunteers and backed by many leading names including Derek Jacobi, Jo Brand and Cameron Mackintosh.

The amateur dramatic group the Wisbech Players has been performing for over 50 years. They currently perform twice a year in spring and autumn at the Angles Theatre.

Amateur dramatic group the Wisbech Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (WAODS) have been providing musicals to the town since 1905 and a yearly pantomime since 1975. The society's home is at the local Thomas Clarkson Community College, where rehearsals and performances take place.

Every summer a "Rose Fair" is held in aid of St Peter's Church. The church is decorated with floral displays sponsored by local organisations and businesses. A parade of floats forms up in Queens Road and circuits the town. Strawberry and cream teas are served and stalls raise funds for local charities. Coaches bring visitors from a wide area. Details are available from the local tourist office.

The Luxe cinema in Alexandra Rd screens films in a former WI hall.

Wisbech is twinned with Arles in France.

Local youth organisations include the Army Cadet Force, Air Training Corps, Sea Cadets, Girls Venture Corps Air Cadets, Fire cadets and St John Ambulance cadets. There are numerous Scouting groups for boys and girls.

Notable buildings

• Peckover House (1722; owned by the National Trust)
• Thomas Clarkson Memorial (1881)

the Clarkson Memorial in Wisbech 2013

• Richard Young MP Memorial (1871) sited in Wisbech Park.
• Parish Church of St Peter and Paul. There are some pictures and a description of the church at the Cambridgeshire Churches website.
• Our Lady & Saint Charles Borromeo Church
• St Mary's Parish church, also on the Cambridgeshire Churches website.
• Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum where she was born before the family's move to London.
• Wisbech & Fenland Museum; extensive collections of local records and other items. Notable artifacts include: Napoleon's Sèvres breakfast service, said to have been captured at the Battle of Waterloo; Thomas Clarkson's chest, containing examples of 18th century African textiles, seeds and leatherwork which he used to illustrate his case for direct trade with Africa; and the original manuscript of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. The manuscript can be viewed on the first Saturday of each month.
• Elgood's Brewery;
  

  Elgoods Brewery on North Brink in Wisbech.
  The brewery was founded in 1795, and bought soon after by the Elgood family. It is a traditional brewery, but produces less than some modern micro-breweries, with output at around 90-100 barrels per week. The beers produced include: "Black Dog Mild", "Golden Newt", "Cambridge Bitter", "Greyhound Strong Bitter", "Old Smoothie Mild", "Old Smoothie Bitter", "Brookes Ale", "Reinbeer" and "Jingle Ale". Recently the brewery has won the Champion Beer of Britain award for its Cambridge Bitter. The brewery is also known for its gardens, which are open to the public.

The Octagon Chapel in Wisbech Old Market, demolished in 1952.

• Rose and Crown, Wisbech; The Hotel has towered over the fens for nearly 600 years. The Rose and Crown Hotel is the best example of the progress of the Town with examples of Tudor, Elizabethan, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian Architecture. The Tidnams owned the Hotel until 1932 and imported Port, Sherries and wine up the River Nene. These were matured in the cellars under the Hotel and also in cellars under Bridge Street. These enormous underground chambers were built more than 200 years ago in what had been the cut supplying water to the moat of the medieval castle. The Tidnams distributed their Ports, Sherries and wines from Wisbech all over Britain and their whiskey brand, Tidnams Tipple, was remembered in the name of the Hotel’s main town bar, Tidnams Tipple Inn, now named ‘Back in Time’.

Wisbech in the news

There are two free newspapers distributed within the town, the Wisbech Standard (owned by Archant) and the Fenland Citizen.

According to a study looking into immigration patterns, Wisbech was once identified as the seventh "most English" town in Britain by Sky News However, on 16 February 2008 a report in the Daily Express titled "Death Of A Country Idyll" wrote about how the influx of Eastern European immigrants may have caused the increase of crime and other illegal activities. Then on 20 February 2008 The Fenland Citizen contained an article opposing the Daily Express article.

In January 2012 the Daily Mail ran a story following the murder of Alisa Dmitrijeva, a Latvian teenager and resident of Wisbech, whose body was found on the Queen's Sandringham estate. The article alleged that the quintessentially English town had been taken over by a sinister Eastern European drug and crimes ring nicknamed the "Baltic Mafia" who were terrifying local residents. The article reported that there had been five murders within the Eastern European community from Wisbech within the last two years.

On 28 August 2012 there was a serious incident at the Wisbech District Hospital when police were called because of people reportedly on the roof of Wisbech District Hospital. Two local officers of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Wisbech Policing Team answered the call. On arrival they found one of the hospital's doctors had been assaulted by the group. As the two officers split up to search the hospital, one of the suspects a woman armed with an axe returned to the hospital making threats to kill, one woman police officer tackled the woman, disarming her and restraining her on the floor. Her colleague joined her and assisted in detaining the woman until help arrived.

The woman detained was arrested and in November 2012 pleaded guilty to numerous offences at Cambridge Crown Court, including burglary, assault, public order offences and racially aggravated harassment. Both police received formal commendations for their actions.

Another officer of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Wisbech Policing Team also made the news when on Friday 12 November 2013, when he was struck off his bike on Churchill Road by a shoplifting suspect he was chasing. Despite suffering a broken ankle he remounted his bike and chased the suspect for 20 minutes before cornering him in Prospect Place. Despite the man attempting to escape by climbing a fence PCSO McCormack kept hold of the man detaining him, even as he violently resisted, until help arrived. The suspect was arrested.

Climate

Like the rest of the United Kingdom, it experiences an oceanic climate but Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties in the British Isles along with Essex. February is the driest month, whilst October is the wettest. In temperature terms, both January and December are the coldest months, whilst August is the warmest.

Climate data for Wisbech
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	7 (45)	8 (46)	11 (52)	13 (55)	16 (61)	19 (66)	21 (70)	22 (72)	19 (66)	15 (59)	10 (50)	7 (45)	14 (57.2)
Daily mean °C (°F)	4.5 (40.1)	5 (41)	7 (45)	9 (48)	12 (54)	14.5 (58.1)	16.5 (61.7)	17 (63)	14.5 (58.1)	11 (52)	7 (45)	4.5 (40.1)	10.21 (50.38)
Average low °C (°F)	2 (36)	2 (36)	3 (37)	5 (41)	8 (46)	10 (50)	12 (54)	12 (54)	10 (50)	7 (45)	4 (39)	2 (36)	6.4 (43.6)
Precipitation cm (inches)	4.5 (1.77)	3 (1.2)	3.3 (1.3)	4 (1.6)	4.6 (1.81)	4.4 (1.73)	4.8 (1.89)	5.2 (2.05)	5.3 (2.09)	5.6 (2.2)	5 (2)	4.4 (1.73)	54.1 (21.3)
Avg. precipitation days	18	15	15	14	13	12	12	12	13	16	17	17	174
Source: World Weather Online

Twin town

• Arles, France (1964)

Images for kids

• 

  Wisbech Grammar School on North Brink.

• 

  The North Brink by the River Nene in Wisbech.