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SANDOWN CASTLE - Henry VIII »

The reign of Henry VIII saw the emergence of a national defence policy. The previous Tudor kings saw little need for coastal defences as England was peripheral to the main events in Europe. Warfare technology was changing significantly with the advent of better gunpowder and artillery. Henry VIII's split with Rome and Henry becoming the Supreme Head of the Church of England led England to fear external enemies. In response Henry instigated the construction of numerous coastal fortifications. The major defences consisted of ten 'castles': - Sandown, Deal, Walmer, Camber, Sandgate, Calshot, Hurst, Portland, Pendennis and St Mawes.

Downs Castles

The Henrician castles in the Downs - Sandown, Deal, Walmer, were among the first built, and the most substantial. These fortifications were squat gun platforms, providing considerable firepower, both in an offensive and defensive capacity. Deal was the more complicated in design but, Sandown was virtually identical to Walmer. Sandown Castle was completed in October 1540; all three castles were built in eighteen months. work began in April 1539, and by May there were 1400 men working on the Down's defences. What is often forgotten is that they were linked by a fosse or ditch and there were intermediate circular bulwarks. There were two bulwarks between the Walmer and Deal castles and another two between Deal and Sandown.^[1] All three castles and the bulwarks were built for £27,000. The fosse and bulwarks were still in evidence in 1725 when the well-known antiquarian William Stukeley made a detailed sketch of the coast and its defences.^[2]

The design of Sandown consisted of a central circular tower, 83 feet (c.25 metres) in diameter, surrounded by four squat semi-circular bastions or lunettes which provided platforms for the guns. The northern lunette incorporated the entrance, complete with portcullis and murder holes, which was accessed via a drawbridge across a dry moat. In 1540 the Master of Ordnance, Sir Christopher Morris, compiled a list of how the castles were manned. Each castle had a captain, who were usually paid 1s to 2s a day, and 10 gunners at Sandown whose pay would have been 6d a day. The number and type of guns is difficult to determine, the captains obtained whatever ordnance they could, and they usually complained they were short.

Table from: Charles Elvin, The History of Walmer and Walmer Castle (Canterbury, 1894), 77.