The town which gives its name to the bay is the more easterly of the two and the flat river valley of the River Yar flows into Brading Harbour behind the town.

Sandown was a well loved by Lewis Caroll and also by Darwin and John Wilkes built a home here and on a corner of the High Street,  on the wall of the Ladies Realm shop, there is a plaque denoting this. Sandown is also the place where Sir Isaac Pitman worked on his new invention, Shorthand.

The Romans were here and it is also mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 but not much is known about the early history of the town but with its long flat beaches and open flat land behind it must have been very inviting to potential invaders. This was one of the reasons that Henry VIII built a fort to protect it in 1537 but he built it too near to the water and eventually it fell into the sea. So in 1632 another fort was built but this was also too near the sea and it was demolished to be replaced in the 1900s, by the fort that is here today and transformed into Sandown Zoo.

It was during the middle of the 19th century that Sandown was seen to have the potential to become a seaside resort but a lot of people preferred it as just a village. One of these was the radical Memeber of Parliament for Middlesex John Wilkes who was not allowed to take his seat in Westminster on four occasions.

Fire tender in Sandown February 1926 Photo reproduced by courtesy of Gwynn White

There is a church hill but it is 19th century and was built in memory of Sir Henry Oglander who was the last member of that family to arrive in England  with William the Conqueror and until he died in 1874 was a well known participant in island life.

Sandown today has still got a small population but this swells dramatically in the summer months when the tourists arrive, it then turns into a lively and noisy place and it has a pier as well. There is a market in the town on Monday from Easter until the end of September and the zoo is known to have one of the best tiger sanctuaries in the world