Ryde’s Heritage, Our Town, Your Histories – Book Review

Ryde’s Heritage Our Town, Your Histories
Produced & published by Ryde Social Heritage Group. 2008
Printed by Crossprint Ltd, Newport, Isle of Wight
Full colour with fold-out map.
156pp. £12.00
978-0-9558987-0-9

This book is the culmination of Ryde Social Heritage Group’s Lottery-funded project and deals with the history of the town of Ryde, Isle of Wight. It tells the stories of many of the people buried in Ryde’s West Street Cemetery and others associated with them.

It is well bound with an attractive cover, the chapters are clearly set out and the pages colour coded. Interesting graphics are distributed throughout the book, mostly full colour, modern, quality photographs but also reproduced photographs, postcards, paintings and etchings, many from the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

For anyone interested in the town or researching their family history this volume would be a useful aid and it concludes with a comprehensive list of sources.

The contents of this book represent only a sample of the huge amount of information that RSHG has documented so far and their research is ongoing.

Perhaps the only disappointment for readers is that the book comes to an end when they would happily have enjoyed several more sections. Let’s hope we may look forward to a sequel.

Kate MacDonell and Diana Wood
13 June 2008

The Book is available from Ryde Bookshop in the High Street, Ryde; The Isle of Wight County Press Shop in Newport or direct from RSHG by contacting us via the website.

Please note if we have to post the book we would need to charge £1 p&p for postage in the UK.