Cowes

Cowes is a seaport town on the Isle of Wight, an island due south of the major southern English port of Southampton. It is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank. The town is therefore sometimes referred to as West Cowes, especially where distinction is needed such as at the ferry termini. Leland's nineteenth century verses, described the towns poetically as "The two great Cowes that in loud thunder roar, This on the eastern, that the western shore". The two towns are linked by a chain ferry. The combined population was 19,919 in the 1991 census, a figure that is easily doubled during the regatta in early August (see below).

Famous Residents

• Dr Thomas Arnold headmaster of Rugby School
• Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
• John Nash (architect) - who designed Norris Castle and lived at his other creation East Cowes Castle(demolished mid twentieth century), and is buried in St James's churchyard.
• Lord Mountbatten of Burma (in childhood), later last Viceroy of India at Kent House, East Cowes
• Cliff Mitchelmore - BBC television and radio presenter/producer
• Mark King - Internationally acclaimed guitarist and principal founder of the Pop Group Level 42
• Robert Stigwood - Music and Film producer, acclaimed for Grease and Saturday Night Fever, lives in Barton Manor, East Cowes and annually opens parts of the house, and the spectacular gardens, to the public in aid of a local charity.