Charborough
Charborough is an historic former parish and manor in Dorset, England. It survives today as a hamlet, situated on an affluent of the River Stour, 6 miles west of Wimborne Minster, but without any of its former administrative powers, and is today part of the parish of Morden. The surviving former parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary. The manor house survives as Charborough House.
St Mary's Church
The mediaeval church of the former parish of Charborough was situated to the immediate south-west of the manor house. The mediaeval church was demolished and rebuilt on the same site in 1775 in the Gothic Revival style, by Thomas Erle Drax, and dedicated to St Mary, and was remodelled in 1837 by John Sawbridge Erle-Drax who in 1826 had married the heiress Sarah Frances Erle-Drax of Charborough, and had assumed her surname and arms. It faces almost due east, as is usual, whilst the front facade of the house faces north-east. It is a grade II* listed building, but the listing relates only to its furnishings. Today it serves as a mausoleum and burial place for the Drax family, the functioning parish church being at Morden. Above the door of a small arched building nearby is an inscription, dated 1686, commemorating the meeting of the "Patriotic individuals who concerted the plan of the Revolution in 1688".Charborough Tower
Charborough Tower is a Grade II* listed octagonal folly tower dating from 1790, extended in 1839 into a five-storey building. It is situated on a hill southeast of the house with the vista of a triumphal way running between them.Charborough with its tower is the model for "Welland House" in the novel Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy.