Humphrey Sturt

[1] He owed his wealth to his grandfather, Sir Anthony Sturt, who had been a successful business man and City of London alderman and Victualler to the Navy.

At Horton he had already created a 200-acre (0.81 km2) lake, and he resolved to indulge this whim again at Moor Crichel, albeit on a smaller scale.

The entire village was moved to what is now called New Town at Witchampton, leaving only the church (rebuilt in 1850) and a carefully contrived landscape in front of the classical mansion.

[3] Humphrey Sturt had many ideas for the improvement of agriculture, which he introduced both in the Crichels and on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour.

He used steam power for threshing and transformed Brownsea Island by importing vast quantities of manure and planting new crops.