Charborough House
Col. Sir Walter Erle (1586–1665) of Charborough, eldest surviving son and heir, a Member of Parliament and a vigorous opponent of King Charles I in the Parliamentary cause both before and during the English Civil War.
He was elected a Member of Parliament for Wareham (a pocket borough controlled by his family) in 1679 (twice), 1681, 1685 and 1689 and in 1685 he was made Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset.
He was a main promoter of the Glorious Revolution as in 1686 he hosted a group of conspirators who met at Charborough House to plan the overthrow of "the tyrant race of Stuarts".
After his retirement from the military he made alterations to Charborough House, including the addition of a new staircase hall with mural paintings by Sir James Thornhill, and the laying out of a formal garden on the west side.
[2] He died without male progeny, when his heiress became his daughter Frances Erle (d.1728), who married Sir Edward Ernle, 3rd Baronet (c.1673–1729).
Henry Drax (c.1693–1755) of Ellerton Abbey in Yorkshire, a Member of Parliament, in about 1719 married Elizabeth Ernle, his first cousin and heiress of Charborough.
He died without male progeny, leaving as his heiress his daughter Sarah Frances Drax, wife of Richard Grosvenor.
[18] Richard Grosvenor (d.1819), a Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall, married Sarah Frances Drax (1769–1822), heiress of Charborough, and in consequence of his marriage he assumed the surname and arms of "Erle-Drax".
[17] John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge (d.1887), of Olantigh Towers in Kent, and Holnest House in Dorset, MP for Wareham, who in 1827 married Jane Frances Erle-Drax (d.1853), heiress of Charborough.
[18] At Olantigh he built large picture galleries for his art collection, and added Venetian-style towers and a grand fountain in the gardens.
[20] He built for himself a huge mausoleum next to Holnest Church in Dorset, since demolished by his descendants due to its high maintenance costs.
He died without male progeny leaving as his heiress his only daughter Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Burton.
[17] Lt. John Lloyd Egginton married Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Burton (d.1905), heiress of Charborough.
he died without male progeny, leaving as his heiress his only daughter Ernle Elizabeth Louisa Maria Grosvenor Plunkett Ernle-Erle-Drax (d.1916), heiress of Charborough, of Bere Regis in Dorset, of Ellerton Abbey, of Maddington House in Wiltshire, of Swell Court in Somerset, and of Caesar's Camp in Surrey.
Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (1880–1967), of the Royal Navy, who inherited Charborough and Ellerton Abbey and other estates, including Drax Hall in Barbados, from his mother.
The surviving mansion house is in the centre of the park and incorporates parts of the original house built by Sir Walter II Erle (1586–1665) (grandson of Walter I), Military Governor of Dorchester and a Parliamentarian commander during the Civil War, whose forces besieged Corfe Castle in 1646.
A fourth gateway, Peacock Lodge, which is inside the current bounds of the estate,[3] is Grade II* listed.
[29] The Drax estate is thought to consist of nearly 7,000 acres (28 km2),[citation needed] and the private grounds are open to the public once or twice a year, when local villagers sell tea and cakes.
Erle also served as Lord Justice of Ireland; MP for Cork in the Irish Parliament; Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance in Spain and France; and Governor of Portsmouth.
