By Isle of Wight Observer
On August 31, 1889, the Isle of Wight Observer’s editor reflected on a long-standing rivalry between different parts of Ryde, claiming divisions between the town’s upper and lower communities stretched back to its days as a small fishing village.
There always seems to have been two factions in Ryde. In the dear old days, when the place was a mere hamlet, upper and lower Ryders are said to have had frequent fights, and to have detested each other with a cordiality which would have won the admiration of the good old lexicographer who is said to have “loved a good hater.” The mutual antipathy may have been due to the fact that the factions had different habits and interests. Those in the lower village were men of the sea, while the upper were agriculturalists.
Strange to say, when the place became a town, the same feeling continued, and Union-street looked down with a sniff of contempt, upon High-street. Union-street still sniffs, but we doubt if it can afford to do so any longer, for the bulk of the ready-money trade of the town has migrated upwards. It is really pretty well time every resident got to know that we have one common interest, and that the bad habits engendered in the frowzy little fishing village of 100 years ago was conquered.