[2] Sandown is the Bay's northernmost town, with its easily accessible, sandy beaches running continuously from the cliffs below Battery Gardens in the south to Yaverland in the north.

While undergoing construction in 1545, the fortification was attacked during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight when invaders fought their way over Culver Down from Whitecliff Bay before being repelled.

On the town's western cliffs Sandown Barrack Battery survives as a scheduled monument and Bembridge Fort, where the National Trust offers tours, can be seen on the downs to the north-east.

[6] One of the first non-military buildings was Sandham Cottage or 'Villakin', a holiday home leased by the radical politician and one-time Mayor of London John Wilkes in the final years of the 18th century.

In the summer of 1874, the Crown Prince Frederick and Princess Victoria of Germany, their children and entourage rented several properties in the town and took regular dips in the Bay.

On 24 March 1878, the Royal Navy training ship HMS Eurydice capsized and sank in Sandown Bay with the loss of 317 lives, one of Britain's worst peacetime naval disasters.

[13] The ship was re-floated in August and beached at Yaverland to be pumped out, the subject of a painting by Henry Robins (1820-1892) for Queen Victoria who came over from Osborne House with other members of her family to see the wreck.

Nearby is the flood plain of the Eastern Yar, one of the few freshwater wetlands on the Isle of Wight, where Alverstone Mead Local Nature Reserve is popular for birdwatching.

Sandown Meadows Nature Reserve, acquired by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust in 2012, is a place to spot kingfishers and water voles.

[19] In March 2021, the Isle of Wight Council granted planning permission to convert the building for housing[20] and subsequently decided to dispose of the Town Hall while exploring opportunities for community use.

[23] Designed by one of the UK's leading players of the time, Henry Cotton, the Brown's pitch and putt courses were the idea of south London pie and sausage maker Alex Kennedy.

[24] Brown's and its ice cream factory were reportedly adapted in the 1940s to disguise pumping apparatus for Pipeline Under the Ocean (PLUTO) intended to deliver oil to the D-Day beaches.

Boojum and Snark at 105 High Street opened in 2019 as a venue for art exhibitions and community events, with its name inspired by author Lewis Carroll who stayed across the road in the 1870s.

[31] Sandown High School and locations nearby were used in the 1972 film That'll Be The Day starring David Essex, Ringo Starr, Billy Fury and Rosemary Leach.