History of Ryde
Historic Project for 2011
To all interested parties,
Friday, July 1st, 2011, will mark the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Royal Victoria Arcade in Union Street, Ryde. This weekend will also see the closing ceremony of the World Island Games, hosted that year by the Isle of Wight.
This presents a wonderful opportunity to stage a three day event - Royal Victorian Ryde - from 1st to 3rd July, 2011, in and around Ryde. We plan to involve local schools, theatre groups, musical groups, street entertainers - anyone interested in enlivening Ryde! Would you be interested in participating in a Victorian Music Hall? Would you like to come and see some open air cinema in Ryde? Would you like to come and browse the stalls at a Victorian Antique Fair? Fancy finding out what the shops in Ryde used to sell? (Everything from 9 foot high agate ewers to Fresh Turtle Soup - and that was only in the arcade!) Would you like to have you and your family photographed in Victorian costume?
We'd like to invite anyone and everyone who wishes to become involved in this exciting project to contact us before September 8th.
Thank you very much.
Diana Wood
14-16 George Street,
RYDE PO33 2EW
tel. 01983 617110
e-mail : Diana@seaward.fslife.co.uk
In the early 18th century the Player family began the process which united Upper and Lower Ryde, which until this time, were two separate hamlets. St Thomas’ chapel was built in 1719, and Ryde remained in the parish of Newchurch, along with Ventnor, until 1866. George Player built Ryde House in the early years of the 19th century, and his sister Elizabeth who had married a Scottish doctor, John Lind, had Westmont in Queen’s Road, built around 1820.
The popularity of sea bathing did much to raise the profile of the town and the population increased rapidly after the erection of the pier began in 1812. In the same year, the first National school was built in Melville Street.
Ryde became a Borough in 1829, and the Improvement Act did much to make the town more suitable for fashionable life. In the 1830s and 40s, most of Union Street was built, accommodating shoppers and holiday makers alike. Yelf’s, Sheridan’s and The Royal Kent Hotel were all in existence, and the Royal Victoria Arcade, opened in 1836, contained 14 shops with every imaginable item for sale.
The arrival of Queen Victoria at Osborne around 1845 greatly boosted the popularity of the island. She was a regular visitor to the photographic studios of Jabez Hughes in the arcade and subsequently Regina House in Union Street. The Isle of Wight Observer and Isle of Wight Times both list the society visitors coming to Ryde for ‘The Season’.
Nineteenth century Ryde was the place to be.