Cowes
Cowes maps (2 available)
Map of Isle Of Wight
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of Isle Of Wight
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Cowes books (1 available)
- 1 photos on Cowes appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Cowes
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Cowes and Isle Of Wight
Cowes memories
Read and share memories of Cowes and Isle Of Wight inspired by Frith photos
Private school.
The house shown immediately in front of the church was a private school run by Miss Margaret and Miss Cecil Cawse. Both my father and I attended this school.
Contributed by The Frith Memory Archivist
Change of use.
The building on the left became an amusement arcade in the early 1950s and then a dental surgery. Later it was demolished and replaced by a new building of flats and a new HQ related to Cowes week which was opened by Prince Philip in 2005.
Contributed by The Frith Memory Archivist
Family connections.
My father Mr Jim Rush is at the far right of this photo in a light shirt, looking rather windswept. At this time he was the proprietor of the Pavilion Hotel and also for a short time the owner of the Alexander Hall which he ran as a dance hall.
Contributed by Mrs J Padfield
Noris Castle
This was the Red Funnel ship Noris Castle an ex tank landing craft.
Contributed by John Hopthrow
Hell and high water!
I worked in my Aunts ladies wear shop (Kays), and remember being flodded when heavy rain combined with high tide caused the shop to have water running through from back to the front with my friend Maureen and myself sweeping the ensuing water out of the front door. In those days the floor was bare board and it soon dried out. As it was summer we thought it was good fun and no harm was caused.
Contributed by June Jackson
Extracts From Cowes & Isle Of Wight books
Cowes harbour is a fine
natural anchorage which has
been appreciated by sailors
for centuries. The early local
historian Sir John Oglander
remarked that he saw some
300 ships riding at anchor
there in 1620.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".
The two Cowes, situated on the west and east banks of the River Medina, are
famous throughout the world as a centre for yachting and as the home port of
the Royal Yacht Squadron. Many visitors gain their first impressions of the Isle
of Wight as they land by ferry from Southampton.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".
This is a very peaceful scene for these waters, with an uncharacteristically dead calm sea at high tide. It was in the
1890s that the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, popularised Solent racing based at Cowes, although the Royal
Yacht Squadron had been established here since 1815.
An extract from from"Picturesque Harbours Photographic Memories".
Cowes harbour is a fine
natural anchorage which has
been appreciated by sailors
for centuries. The early local
historian Sir John Oglander
remarked that he saw some
300 ships riding at anchor
there in 1620.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".
Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, immortalised in ‘Tom
Brown’s Schooldays’, was born at Cowes in 1796. Arnold probably did
more than most to shape the popular perception of Victorian values.
An extract from from"Isle of Wight Photographic Memories Pocket Album".