Sandown Bay is a broad open bay which stretches for much of the length of the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

's southeastern coast. It extends from

Culver Down Culver Down is a chalk down to the north of Sandown, Isle of Wight. It is believed that its name derives from "Culfre", which is Old English for dove. The down has a typical chalk downland wildlife on the uncultivated areas (generally the south ...

, near

Yaverland Yaverland is a village on the Isle of Wight, just north of Sandown on Sandown Bay. It has about 200 houses. About of a mile away from the village is the Yaverland Manor and Church. Holotype fossils have been discovered here of ''Yaverlan ...

in the northeast of the Island, to just south of

Shanklin Shanklin () is a seaside resort and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, England, located on Sandown Bay. Shanklin is the southernmost of three settlements which occupy the bay, and is close to Lake and Sandown. The sandy beach, its Old Village ...

, near the village of Luccombe in the southwest. At Luccombe, the bay is separated from The Undercliff by a large headland from which Upper Ventnor sits atop. The towns of Shanklin,

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

and

Sandown Sandown is a seaside resort and civil parish on the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom with the resort of Shanklin to the south and the settlement of Lake in between. Together with Shanklin, Sandown forms a built-up area of ...

are on the bay's coast, while Luccombe and Upper Ventnor feature panoramic views across both Sandown Bay to the East and the Undercliff to the southwest. Due to the bay being relatively sheltered from offshore winds it is often used as temporary anchorage point for boats, including large

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s, before continuing east towards

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

, or north towards The Solent.

History

Beautiful Britain - The Isle of Wight - by G

In the past, the bay had significant military importance as the wide beach offered a good landing-point for an armed invasion of the Island. To protect against a French or Spanish invasion,

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

built Sandown Castle in the centre of the bay as part of his chain of

coastal defences Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in ...

to protect the South-Coast of England. However, the castle was still under construction during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight of 1545 when it was overwhelmed. This castle fell into disrepair due to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwar ...

and was demolished in 1631, though the remains of the foundations of the castle are still visible along the shore at low tide. Sandown Fort, also known as the ''Diamond Fort'' after its arrow-headed bastions, this was built using the remains of the old castle further up the coast. As a result of its sandy beach and good weather, Sandown and Shanklin grew rapidly in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

as tourists from across both the Island and the country came to enjoy the seaside thanks to new the transportation connections of the railway and

paddle steamers A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...

. This transformed a relatively sparsely populated area into a series of bustling

seaside resort A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germa ...

s. New developments included a long

promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...

, many large seafront hotels and the 875 foot

Sandown Pier Sandown Pier is a pleasure pier in Sandown, Isle of Wight, England. History Plans for the pier were drawn up in the 1860s and bill passed in Parliament in 1864. However, construction did not start until 1876. The first section of the pier m ...

(originally 360 ft when opened in 1879). A lot of Victorian-influenced architecture can still be seen throughout the bay.

Geography

Sandown Bay is an excellent example of a concordant coastline and has well-developed sandy beaches stretching all the way from Shanklin to Culver Down due to

Longshore drift Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction ...

. The bay has over 5 miles of unbroken sandy beach, making it one of the longest beaches in the British Isles. The area has weak

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

cliffs which vary from , these have suffered from erosion and instability in the past. The risk of cliff-failures affecting populated tourist areas led the

Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...

to commission a report and an extensive structural stabilisation programme in 1988. The bay is best viewed from

to the north. The Isle of Wight Coastal Path follows the whole bay-line either along the cliff top to the south of Sandown or the concrete

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

north of Sandown. The bay itself has a seabed consisting of a mixture of

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class ...

, shells and

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

with shallow waters out till about . The total area of the bay is .

Economy and tourism

The economy of the bay is dominated by retail and hospitality sectors due to a large amount of

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

it receives, an estimate of 500,000 visitors annually. However, the average earnings of people living around the bay are approximately 10% below the national average. A local action-plan, the ''Bay Area Action Plan'', has been set up in 2016 for the development of the bay for the next 15 years. It plans to get local and national funding with the aim to improve public spaces and increase the level of tourism. The bay has a combined total of 21,374 inhabitants.

Maritime incidents

The outer bay is used as a sheltered anchorage. Ships requiring salvage have sometimes been towed there, such as the tanker Tarpenbeck in 1979. The wreck of a

salvage tug A salvage tug, known also historically as a wrecking tug, is a specialized type of tugboat that is used to rescue ships that are in distress or in danger of sinking, or to salvage ships that have already sunk or run aground. Overview Few tugbo ...

(the ''Harry Sharman'') which assisted the stricken tanker ''Pacific Glory'' in 1970,
Isle of Wight History and Heritage, the Pacific Glory was visible for some decades at low tide below Culver Cliffs.

Notes

:* From the Beautiful Britain series
The Isle of Wight
by G. E. Mitton, 1911. Caption: The white cliffs of Culver Down are the eastward end of the rib of chalk which has its other extremity at

the Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...

References

External links

IOW Council information – YaverlandIOW Council information – SandownIOW Council information – Shanklin
{{Bays on the Isle of Wight Bays of the Isle of Wight Tourist attractions on the Isle of Wight