Wisbech Castle originated as a stone motte-and-bailey fortress ordered by William I in 1072 to fortify Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, rebuilt in stone in 1087. After suffering destruction in a legendary 1236 flood and falling into medieval ruin, the site was rebuilt by Bishop Morton in the late 15th century as a brick palace, later becoming a notorious Tudor-era prison. During the English Civil War, it was armed with cannon and defended with a repaired drawbridge. Subsequent ownership by Oliver Cromwell's minister John Thurloe saw a mansion constructed in 1656, demolished in 1815 and replaced by a villa in 1816. Transferred to Wisbech Town Council in 2018, archaeological excavations have uncovered medieval castle walls, moats, Anglo-Saxon defences, and 16th-century palace remnants.
