Wisbech prior to drainage schemes, it sat on the river Great Ouse. The port is Cambridgeshire's only gateway to the sea. In 1631 Sir Cornelius Vermuyden built the Horseshoe Sluice at Wisbech at a cost of £8,000. In 1680 the trade of Wisbech had increased sufficiently for the port to be reckoned independent and no longer a member of King's Lynn. In 1720 the corporation was licensed to buoy the channel for the first time. By 1751 it was possible in a dry year to walk across the river bed under Wisbech Bridge. Ship building was carried out in the late
Wisbech closed. On 19 January 2012, "BBC Look East" reported growing tensions in the town, where one-third of the population were said to be East European immigrants. In 2015 in his first week with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, Prince William came to Wisbech. The town's traditional market days are Thursday and Saturday, but the town council now runs markets seven days a week. The Sunday market runs alongside a car-boot sale. The Wisbech town council elect a town mayor. The town council of 18 councillors is elected every four years. The town has seven wards:- Clarkson, Kirton, Medworth, Octavia Hill,