Wisbech, Cambridgeshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Wisbech. You may be able to find further references to Wisbech in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
WISBEACH a town, a parish, a district, and a hundred Imperial
WISBEACH-ST. MARY a parish, with Guyhirn chapelry and Murrow hamlet Imperial
Wisbech hundred Bartholomew
Wisbech (or Northern) Division parliamentary division Bartholomew
Wisbech, (or Wisbeach) municipal borough Bartholomew
Wisbech St Mary parish and village with railway station Bartholomew
Wisbech St Peter Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Wisbech within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 3: Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 7, Part 2: East Midlands 2
William Camden Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 1
William Camden Huntingdon and Northampton 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 1: Through Essex to Colchester 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 2: Harwich and Suffolk 1
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: Cambridge to Lichfield 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Friday Bridge 0 2
Leverington 0 2
Elm 0 2
Gorefield 0 1
Coldham 0 1
Walsoken 0 2
Guyhirn 0 3
Newton 0 3
Emneth 0 2
Murrow 0 2
West Walton 0 3
Parson Drove 0 2
Upwell 0 2
Tydd St Giles 0 2
Outwell 0 2
Sutton St Edmund 0 2
Walpole St Peter 0 2
Tydd St Mary 0 3
Gedney Hill 0 1
Terrington St John 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Wisbech. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
WISBEACH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
WISBEACH ST MARY John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
WISBECH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WISBECH OR NORTHERN DIVISION John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WISBECH OR WISBEACH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WISBECH ST MARY John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WISBECH ST PETER John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WISBICH William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
WISEBEC John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
WYSBICH Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.