Sandsfoot Gardens & Castle

Sandsfoot Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion and defended the Weymouth Bay anchorage. The stone castle was completed by 1542. Earthwork defences were built around the landward side of the castle, probably in 1623. Sandsfoot saw service during the English Civil War. The fortress was withdrawn from military use in 1665. By the early 18th century it was in ruins, its stonework taken for use in local building projects. The clay cliffs on which the castle had been built had always been unstable and subject to erosion. The castle's gun platform began to collapse into the sea and, by the 1950s, had been entirely destroyed. The ruins were closed to visitors on safety grounds, although civic gardens were planted alongside it in 1951. Repairs were undertaken between 2009 and 2012 enabling it to be reopened to the public.