West Cowes (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cowes Castle; Cowfort

In the civil parish of Cowes.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Isle of Wight.
1974 county of Isle of Wight.
Medieval County of Hampshire, Isle of Wight.

OS Map Grid Reference: SZ49389657
Latitude 50.76653° Longitude -1.30111°

West Cowes has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Royal Yacht Squadron Headquarters. Remains of Henrician coastal defence of 1538-9 with C18 stair turret and enlargements by Salvin of 1856-7. Of the C16 fort there remain the low bastion fronting the promenade along the sea, with its castellated parapet, and the 2-storey squat round tower behind. They are built of limestone ashlar, said to have been brought across the Solent from Beaulieu Abbey which was then partially demolished. At the south-east corner of the tower a turret was added in the C18 which contains quite a good C18 staircase. The remainder of the building consists of the C18 house as altered and greatly enlarged in the C19 by Salvin, when the north-west turret, amongst other portions was added. This is of 2 to 3 storeys stone rubble having mansard roof with some gables and incorporates a one storey cemented and castellated lodge. The building is listed for both architectural and historic interest. The historical interest is as the sole remaining fort of 2, built in 1538-9 by Henry VIII to defend the mouth of the Medina, the other having been built at East Cowes. During the Commonwealth period the building was used as a prison and amongst others Sir William Davenant was imprisoned there. He wrote the heroic poem "Gondibert" during his captivity. The castle was added to and became a private house in the C18 and in 1856 it was bought by the Royal Yacht Squadron which was founded in 1813 and had been previously housed in what became subsequently the Gloucester Hotel, The Parade, Cowes owed its fortunes in the C19 to the visits of the Duke of Gloucester, the Prince Regent and other royal princes who were early patrons of the Yacht Club and after 1863 of the Prince of Wales, which made the town fashionable. (Listed Building Report)

The original castle was a round tower flanked to the east and west by rectangular wings with a semi-circular curtain wall on the seaward side. Eight guns were mounted at the castle in three tiers. The castle was built from material from the abbey at Beaulieu and possibly from Quarr Abbey.
Little remains of the present day castle apart from a low bastion fronting the promenade along the seaward side and a fragment of the northern segment of the original round tower. The rest of the building consists of the 18th century house with its three storey tower and its castellated conservatory style lodge. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1267310
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 460628.
Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Royal Yatch Squadron and Royal Yatch Squadron
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  h2g2: Tudor Castles on and around the Isle of Wight, UK
Books
- Harrington, Peter, 2007, The Castles of Henry VIII (Oxford: Osprey)
  Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of Wessex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 68
  Saunders, Andrew, 1997, Channel Defences (London; Batsford/English Heritage) p. 47, 49
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 109
  Barron, W.G., 1985, The Castles of Hampshire and Isle of Wight (Paul Cave) p. 22
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 190
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 370-1, 404, 535-9
  Pevsner, Nikolaus and David Lloyd, 1967, Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (Harmondsworth) p. 741-2
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co)
  Mackenzie, J.D., 1896, Castles of England; their story and structure (New York: Macmillan) Vol. 1 p. 204 online copy
  Stone, P.G., 1891, The Architectural Antiquities of the Isle of Wight (London) Vol. 2 p. 107-8
  Worsley, Richard, 1781, The History of the Isle of Wight (London) p. 47, xci-xcii
  Buck, Samuel and Nathaniel, 1774, Buck's Antiquities (London) Vol. 1 p. 106
  Grose, Francis, 1785 (new edn orig 1756), Antiquities of England and Wales (London) Vol. 2 p. 180-1 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Binney, M., 1985, 'Based on a Tudor bulwark: the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, Isle of Wight' Country Life 178 p. 298–301
  Kenyon, J.R., 1983, 'The state of the fortifications in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in 1623' Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 39 p. 137-143 esp. 138-9
  Kenyon, J.R., 1979, 'An aspect of the 1559 survey of the Isle of Wight: The State of all the Queenes maties Fortresses and Castelles' Post-Medieval Archaeology Vol. 13 p. 61-77 esp. 67-8
  Portal, 1917-19, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol. 8 p. 83-94 (history)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Gairdner, J. and Brodie, R.H. (eds), 1898, Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII Vol. 16 p. 262 No. 553 view online copy
  A Survey of the Isle of Wight with plans of fortifications, 20 Nov 1559 (D(W)1778/III/0/1, Staffordshire Record Office)
  B.M. Harleian MS. 1326 (Survey of 1623) British Library collection information
  E178/4470 (Survey of 1 James I) The National Archives reference
  SP12/109/29 (Survey of 1576) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
  Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p. 207
  Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1907, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 1 p. 281 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Dave Hopkins, 2004, Extensive Urban Survey - Hampshire and the Isle of Wight (English Heritage) Download copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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