Crichel House, a modern mansion in the Classical style, consists of the main building and a smaller wing. It stands
in a park 400 acres (162 hectares) in extent, which contains a lake covering 50 acres(20 hectares). Crichel
formally belonged to the Napiers,
whose ancestor, a cadet of the Napiers of Murchison, settled in Dorset in Henry VII's time. Their old House, built
by Sir Nathaniel Napier, where Gerard Napier, the first baronet, entertained Charles II and Catherine of
Braganza, was burned to the ground in 1742. The estates passed in the middle of the 18th Century to Humphrey
Sturt, of Horton, in Dorset, on his marriage with Diana, aunt and heir of Sir Gerard Napier, the 6th and last
baronet. Mr Sturt greatly enlarged the new house, which his wife's brother, Sir William Napier, had built on
the site of the old home, and his descendant, the 2nd Lord Alington, later lived there. George IV,
while Prince Regent,
occupied Crichel House for a time, and his daughter, the Princess Charlotte, stayed here under
the care of Lady Rosslyn and Lady Ilchester
Contempory Biographies Wilts and Dorset; E.E. Dorling; W.T.Pike & Co, 1906
