Sandown Castle was built as one of Henry VIII's Device Forts at Sandown on the Isle of Wight from 1544 onwards. The Device Forts, also known as Henrician Castles, were built by Henry VIII as a network of coastal defences to defend against the threat of the French and Spanish after his break from the Roman Catholic Church. Although Sandown Castle was never attacked, it was the scene of a desperate battle with French invaders who had landed at Whitecliff Bay and made their way over Culver Down amid heavy skirmishing in 1545. The French were repulsed. For its successors, see Sandown.