The once proud Customs Service is now nothing more that a shell of what it previously was, there are now no staff employed on the Island. The Watch House, a Customs office since the early 18th Century, is now the RNLI station at Cowes

I have worked on and off for 25 years as a Customs Officer at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Whilst I was a Cowes I had the opportunity to extract details from some of the historic records which were held at the Cowes office, fortunately some of these have now been returned to the Island and are held by the Isle of Wight Records Office, and it is hoped that others will be transferred to the National Archives. I am now also transcribing extracts from records (mainly Letters Books) held at the National Archives and Isle of Wight Records Office, but this will be a long job. I am also attempting to compile a list of officers who have served on the Isle of Wight, which also includes Excise Officers, although most of these records do not appear to have survived, and Coast Guard Officers until about 1830. I have recently added a list of Prosecutions from 1751 to 1860.