 During the course of the 18th century , Cowes became a fashionable location for visitors , with several bathhouses , one of them located beside the castle , and by the early 19th century the town had become a noted resort . Cowes Castle was partially rebuilt in 1716 to modernise its accommodation . Most of the front of the keep was demolished and rebuilt with new windows , a turret for a spiral staircase was erected , new three- and two @-@ storey residential wings were added , and a garden was created over the landward defences . In 1795 , the writer Richard Warner noted that the garrison consisted of the captain , a porter , two soldiers , a master gunner and five regular gunners , their wages coming to £ 103 a year . The castle remained in use during the Napoleonic Wars , and in 1825 was equipped with eleven 9 @-@ pound ( 4 @.@ 1 kg ) guns . Warner had already complained , though , that the castle was " utterly useless " in military terms and a guidebook in 1824 echoed this judgement , describing Cowes as " useless as a place of defence " and ridiculing the sentries on duty there . 
