Ryde Social Heritage Group research the social history of the citizens of Ryde, Isle of Wight. Documenting their lives, businesses and burial transcriptions.
RYDE SOCIAL HERITAGE GROUP
Based at Ryde Cemetery Heritage & Learning Centre. Preserving, documenting and promoting the social history of Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
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The Great Storm of March1818

The Storm by Vasily Tropinin (1818-21)

There are many accounts of the great storm of March 1818 which caused havoc, particularly along the south coast of England and included extensive damage to Ryde Pier. The Hampshire Telegraph reports on the effect of the storm along the shoreline at Lower Ryde where there were a number of very small dwellings.
“….. The Storm on Wednesday night was felt with particular severity at Lower Ryde. A Cottage of Gen Arabin’s with three other houses, were thrown down, and another house completely swept away by the violence of the waves. The storm raged with increased fury about ten o’clock, when the sea rising five feet above its usual height, broke in upon the inhabitants so unexpectedly that they had scarcely time to make their escape; and in one house, where were a man, his wife, and eight children, one wave forced down the door, and the succeeding one swept away the staircase, so that the children were obliged to be taken from their beds and thrown from the upper windows, in a dark night, into the sea, amongst a tremendous surf, but happily no lives were lost …..”

Source: Hampshire Telegraph 9 March 1818
Picture source: The Storm by Vasily Tropinin (1818-21) Wikiart