Sandsfoot Castle

The remains of a Henrician artillery castle, built around 1541, by Henry VIII as part of his network of coastal defences to protect against French and Spanish attacks. It was erected together with Portland castle to defend the anchorage between Weymouth and Portland. The castle was repaired in 1548 and again in 1610/11and bastion earthworks were probably added then. They were noted on the 1623 survey. The castle was in Royalist hands during the English Civil War before it was abandoned in 1644-5 as it was of no military importance. It was then used as a storehouse until at least 1691. During the Second World War an anti-aircraft battery was probably positioned at the castle.

Sandsfoot Castle is now located within the 19th century breakwater of Portland harbour, the castle has suffered erosion from the sea and the remains are unsafe, but can be viewed from the surrounding fence and the shore.

One mile from Weymouth is a picturesque ruin, standing on the edge of the rocks, a large part of the structure having been destroyed by the waves. It was one of the many fortresses built by Henry VIII., about 1539, when the fear of foreign invasion was imminent. Leland calls it “a right goodlye and warlyke castle, having one open barbicane”, but it is without architectural beauty. Its walls contain fragments of Norman and Early English work, due to the old abbey of Bindon, out of which it was built. The drawing of 1769 shows a ruined parallelogram of wall, in two storeys, with many windows, faced with ashlar, which is now all carried away. At the N. end was a tower, bearing the arms of England, and here were the governor’s quarters, with vaulted floors; the S. front, which is gone, was semi-circular, and is said to have been the gunroom. The whole stood on a rectangular platform, with redoubts at the corners on the S. side, this forming a gun platform for the battery; but nothing remains on this side. On the E. were the remains of a small defensible gatehouse, and a ditch surrounded the three landward sides. The walls are thick and lofty, and the structure must have been a fine one. A governor or custodian was usually appointed for life. (Castles Of England, Sir James D. Mackenzie, 1896)

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