Sandown Castle

Sandown Castle stands on the Isle of Wight at Sandown Bay, built in 1545 by Henry VIII as part of a chain of Device Forts to guard against French attack. It was designed by Italian engineer Giovanni Portinari with surveyor William Ridgeway and labour captain John Portinar. The fort overlooked the bay from a central courtyard, with a square tower, two angular bastions and a circular seaward bastion. A moat protected the rear and a wooden pier allowed boats to land. Its design mixed Italian military ideas with English tradition, though historians later criticised it as an imperfect hybrid. The castle’s brief life saw action in July 1545 when 2,000 French soldiers landed and attacked before retreating. The French fleet of 200 ships had aimed for Sandown while the fort was still unfinished. After the raid, work resumed and the castle was completed, but coastal erosion soon threatened its walls. By the 17th century the sea had undermined the structure, and in 1631 Sir John Oglander ordered its demolition. Today the remains appear at low tide along the shore, marking where the original fort once stood. The site lies close to the later Sandown Fort, built further inland to replace it. Visitors can walk the shoreline and see the scattered stones of the old bastions when the tide is out. The bay stretches wide and flat, with the castle’s former position now part of the open coast. The wind and waves shape the view, echoing the forces that ended the fort’s life centuries ago.