Old Postcards of Sandown & Lake

I wish I knew more about these wonderful old postcards, the only thing I do know is that they were made before 1911. The postcard below is very special indeed. It belongs to a fabulous website called ISLE OF WIGHT HISTORIC POSTCARDS, pop over and have a look. The owner of the site, Steve, has spent ages writing allsorts of wonderful snippets as well as scanning his collection of postacrds for all of us to enjoy. Until I found this site, I didn't even know Sandown had a castle!! I've been doing some research (Courtesy of the BBC) on Sandown Castle and this is the info so far ...

Sandown Castle: Not to be confused with Sandown Castle in Deal, Sandown Castle, Isle of Wight, was built between Sandown and Yaverland on the Isle of Wight. Sandown Castle was built to defend the only bay on the southern side of the island where a fleet could successfully land. Sandown Castle's design was simply that of a square, with two squares in the corners, and was started in 1544. It was still being built during the French invasion of 1545 - when the Mary Rose sank, and French invaders reportedly fought defenders over the foundations of the castle. However, the castle was built too near the sea, and by the 1580s was unusable and was abandoned. It has since been eroded by the sea, and the remains of it can sometimes be seen as a pile of rocks on low tide, opposite Fort Street, a road named after it.

Wikipedia says ...

Sandown Castle was built as one of Henry VIII's Device Forts at Sandown on the Isle of Wight from 1544 onwards, near Sandown Isle of Wight. It was demolished before the present-day town of Sandown was established, and the site of the fort is now the Sandham Grounds public park, between Fort Street and Culver Parade.