RYDE a municipal borough and watering place of the Isle of Wight, is finely situated on a sloping eminence above the Solent, 5 miles south by west of Portsmouth, and 7 (12 by rail) from West Cowes. It occupies the site of a village called La Rye or La Riche, which was destroyed by the French in the reign of Edward II. About the close of the 18th century it was a small fishing hamlet; but when the beauty of its site attracted attention it rapidly grew into favour as a watering-place. The streets are wide, regular, and well-paved, and there are a large number of fine villas on the slopes of the hill. It is connected by rail with the principal other towns in the island, and there is also steamboat communication with Portsmouth, Southampton, Southsea, Portsea, and Stoke’s Bay. The pier, built originally in 1812, but since then greatly extended, forms a delightful promenade half a mile in length. The principal buildings are All Saints church, erected in 1870 from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott, and other churches, the market-house and town hall, the Royal Victoria Yacht club-house, the theatre, and the Royal Isle of AVight Infirmary. The town was incorporated in 1868, and is governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. The population of the municipal borough (area 792 acres) in 1871 was 11,260 and in 1881 it was 11,461.