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 Canal in the river and the canal to equalise, at which point both sets of gates could be opened. The canal did not have its own water supply, but was refilled when the water level in the Nene at Wisbech was high enough. This was normally only at spring tides, and so the water level often ran low in the period before the next spring tide was due. In 1883, the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway opened, running from Wisbech to Outwell and following a route along the course of the canal. It was extended to Upwell in 1884. Initially, there was