A TIMELINE OF WISBECH
By Tim Lambert
1069 The Normans build a wooden castle at Wisbech
1086 Wisbech is a large village (for the time) with a population of about 350
c. 1150 A weekly market begins at Wisbech
1190 Richard II gives Wisbech a charter (a document giving the people certain rights)
1236 Wisbech suffers a terrible flood
1392 A grammar school is founded in Wisbech
1487 A bishop's palace is built
1549 Wisbech is given a corporation and a mayor
1587 Plague strikes Wisbech
1600 The population of Wisbech is about 1,500
1655 Wisbech suffers another flood
1656 Wisbech gains its first fire engine
1680 Wisbech is made a port in its own right separate from Kings Lynn
1700 Wisbech has a population of about 2,500
1722 Peckover House is built
1793 A theatre is erected in Wisbech
1801 Wisbech has a population of about 4,700
1810 Wisbech Corporation are given powers to pave, clean and light the streets
1816 Wisbech 'castle' is built
1832 Wisbech is lit by gas. Cholera strikes Wisbech.
1835 Leverington Road Cemetery is laid out. A museum opens in Wisbech.
1847 The railway reaches Wisbech
1849 Cholera strikes again
1850 The population of Wisbech reaches 10,500
1854 The Church of Our Lady and St Borromeo is built
1869 St Augustine's Church is built
1870 The Park opens
1873 North Cambridgeshire Hospital opens
1881 A memorial is erected to Thomas Clarkson
1921 A War Memorial is erected in Wisbech
1931 A concrete bridge is built over the river
1975 A new library is built in Wisbech
1988 Horse Fair Shopping Centre is built
1995 The Octavia Hill Birthplace Museum opens