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
Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech Order in Council on 5 February 1915. , appointments to the Wisbech archdeaconry ceased and Huntingdon archdeaconry was renamed to the present Archdeaconry of Huntingdon and Wisbech. Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech The Archdeacon of Huntingdon and Wisbech is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Ely. The archdeacon is responsible for some clergy discipline and pastoral care in the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon and Wisbech. The Archdeaconry of Huntingdon was a part of the Diocese of Lincoln from (at the latest) the early 12th century. As such it is the oldest continually occupied Archdeaconry in England. The archdeaconry was