Thomas Hellyer – March 2006
Thomas Hellyer was an Architect who lived and worked in Ryde, with a practice in Cross Street. He was responsible for the design of several churches and schools in Ryde, such as Holy Trinity Church in Dover Street, the County Hospital (now demolished), and Oakfield School.
Hellyer’s skills were recognised on the mainland too, and he was called upon to design various houses, schools and churches in Hampshire and Dorset, and possibly even further afield in Berkshire, Kent and Yorkshire.
Hellyer and his wife Harriett lived in a house called Bouverie in Melville Street, and later in Elmwood, Queen’s Road. Their only child Harriet married and moved away to Warwickshire and then Yorkshire. His wife Harriet was buried 11 July 1889; Thomas was buried on 22 March 1894, aged 82, in the same grave. Hellyer’s grave has a unique design, and has been cleared in order to read the inscription. The brambles have been allowed to become overgrown once more to protect its fine architectural features.