Museum Square, Wisbech, Cambs PE13 1ES | Tel: 01945 583817

Wisbech Through the Ages 1945-1999

 

The town continued to expand, with several new council developments being completed including the estates in the Mount Pleasant are. Additional slum clearance took place in the port area in the 1950's. Private housing developments included those along Harecroft Road and Mount Drive.

 

Aerial view c. 1959, showing partially filled Canal (now Churchill Road) and Albion House (now demolished).

 

Major new buildings include the Isle of Ely College of Further Education and the Police Station, both opened in the 1950's. During the 1970's a new County Library was built on the site of the demolished Ely Place Baptist Church and the Angles Theatre was opened. In the 1980's the Clarkson Hospital - occupying the old workhouse buildings - was demolished and the North Cambridgeshire Hospital on Churchill Road was extended and developed.
 
 

The Wisbech Canal was finally blocked in the 1970's allowing the builders of Churchill Road to follow the route of the canal, thereby saving much of the historic town centre. Freedom Bridge was opened in 1971 and the town bypassed by the A47 in 1985.

The New Market Place was pedestrianised during the 1990's and became the main focus for retail activity in the town, although the creation of town-edge retail developments affected the town centre.

Cromwell Road and Weasenham Lane provided a focus for the development of new industrial complexes and factory units, with major employers including Spillers and Carnaud Metalbox. Other important sources of employment include plant nurseries, light engineering firms and service industries, although the fruit industry contracted during this period.

The Upwell tramway closed in 1966 and the last railway passenger service ran from the town in 1968. The harbour declined in importance and from the early 1980's Wisbech poet was overshadowed by the new facilities at Sutton Bridge. During the 1990's tourism was increasingly seen as being important to the local economy, with a number of new attractions opening in the town.

 

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