Cowes is split into East and West Cowes which is separated by the River Medina and linked only by a chain link ferry known as the floating bridge. West Cowes is noted for being the home of the Royal Yacht Squadron and is the rendezvous for sailors worldwide when they converge on the town for Cowes Week.

The other side of the river is more industrial and also the landing site for the car ferry service to and from Southampton, though the ferry does stop at West Cowes but only for foot passengers as there is no hard here only a jetty. Also on this side is Osborne House once the home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Osborne House		The Swiss Cottage in the grounds of Osborne House
Photos kindly submitted by Eileen Sykes, Northampton

Cowes owes it popularity to its small harbour and to Cowes Roads which are the deep and sheltered waters that lead into it. These first became well known in Elizabethan times when the Armada had been routed and the Spanish fleet defeated, sailing ships would all meet up before starting on the long journeys.

How the name Cowes derived is not known for sure, one ideas is that it comes from two sandbanks outside of the harbour as sandbanks were known as cows and a 15th century to there being cows at the mouth of the river. Forts were also known as cows and there are forts built by Henry VIII on either side of the estuary, though all that is left has now been incorporated i to the Royal Yacht Squadron's headquarters.

It was when the Yacht Squadron decided to move to the Island from London in the 19th century that development of West Cowes started and houses, shops and hotels were built which has increased over the years.

The Prince of Wales was senior Flag Officer at the turn of the 20th century and he held the post for 19 years and only stepped down when he was crowned King and when Lily Langtry seemed to have aroused more interest with the press and public than the yachting.

East Cowes also had shipbuilding and many of the Royal Navy's ships were built here in the Samuel Whites shipyard, these included destroyers and submarines and lifeboats were built by Saunders-Roe and so was Sir Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird which broke the water speed record in 1936. The founder of the firm Saunders had built flying boats along with Sopwith and late A V Roe and it was them that brought in the first seaplanes. Later Sir Christopher Cockerell's Hovercraft were built here and teh Saunders-Roe premises got taken over by the British Hovercraft Corporation, but today this is the home of Westland Aerospace which cannot be missed when coming in on the ferry due to the big Union Flag painted on its doors for the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977 and was never painted over as the public like it too much!