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).

Transport Links

Cowes and East Cowes are key gateway towns for the Isle of Wight. Those travelling to Southampton are served by a high speed catamaran passenger ferry from "West" Cowes and a vehicle ferry from East Cowes. Visitors arriving at East Cowes find it hard not to notice the worlds largest Union Jack on the hangar doors of the building originally used by Saunders Roe and successive marine and aerospace manufacturing companies.

Related Topics:
Isle of Wight - Southampton - Catamaran - Union Jack - Saunders Roe

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