The Old Captain's House, Cowes

Numbers 7, 9 and 11 Medina Road - how they looked 50 years ago (next to Lallows in Cowes).

Numbers 7 on the left and 9 in the middle still stand, but number 11 on the right, once a shop, has gone leaving a gap between this building and the next.

Today, Medina Road is unrecognisable to the street of yesteryear. A hundred years ago, the street consisted of terraced houses such as these, shops, marine business premises,at least 6 pubs and the offices of JS Whites. In close proximity to Whites shipyard on both sides of the River Medina, Medina Road was bombed in WW2, and as houses deteriorated over the years, they were demolished and replaced with office blocks, a marina and several apartment block.

The building in the middle is now known as The Old Captain’s House, and has a plaque that reads, ‘Captain Charles Bishop, born 25.1.1829 Master Mariner and Yacht Broker resided here 1892, 9 children with wife Sarah Hickman, ticket no 345971 dated 7 March 1851’.

Research shows that Charles Ford Bishop was Master of a Yacht and later a Yacht Insurance Agent. Originally from Greenwich where he completed his Master’s Certificate of Service in 1829, with his wife Sarah, they had moved to Cowes, and had lived in Princes Street (around 1861), Newport Road (around 1865), Mill Hill Road (around 1871) and The Lawn, Worsely Road from 1875 until his death in 1895. He had moved offices from Bath Road (around 1885) to Medina Road (around 1889) where he worked as a shipping agent and agent to underwriters’ association of Glasgow.

Please read more about the history of Cowes buildings with more illustrations on our page Cowes History.