After Oliver Cromwell had been appointed governor of the Isle of Ely, for his activity in swaying it to the interest of the Parliament, he caused fortifications to be raised near the Horse-shoe on the north side of Wisbeach, to secure the passes out of Lincolnshire, which continued attached to the king. The soldiers stationed to defend them were commanded by Colonel Sir John Palgrave, and Captain William Dodson; and the ammunition, and other warlike stores, were supplied from a Dutch ship, which the Queen had dispatched from Holland for the use of the royalists, but which, very seasonably and conveniently, fell into the hands of their opponents. In 1643 the burgesses lent 150_l._ to Captain Dodson, who was then engaged in the siege of Croyland; and on the 25th of March 1644, they delivered to Major John Ireton four muskets, three bandeliers, and two swords, for the service of the Parliament. They also furnished the latter with a loan of 250_l._ towards raising a troop of horse for the defence of the Isle. This troop seems to have been supported even after the Revolution, as on the 6th of June, 1690, 4_l._ were ordered to be paid towards the expence of a horse to serve in “the Troop,” and the town-bailiff was directed to defray a moiety of the charge for arms and furniture. Between the restoration and the year 1672, cities, towns, and even individuals, were allowed to coin copper money for the convenience of trade: the Capital Burgesses of Wisbeach, therefore, in February, 1670, ordered the town-bailiff to expend 20_l._ in coining halfpence, with the words “A Wisbeach Half-penny,” on one side; and on the other, the impression of the town-seal. In 1722, the poor-house was erected, at the expence of 2000_l._ borrowed for that purpose by the Capital Burgesses, on their corporation seal:—for being an invisible body, (like other bodies-corporate) whose intentions cannot be manifested or expressed by personal acts, or oral discourse, they could act and speak only by their common seal. {109}