The fascinating history of Gilwell Park goes back far further than the 90 years that The Scout Association has owned the estate, back in fact over 600 years to when the story begins in 1407.

The first record of any land that we can now identify as part of Gilwell Park can be found in the Harleian records in the British Library. There we find several ‘parcels’ of land in the parish of Waltham Abbey, Essex, owned by one John Crow. John Crow called his land Gyldiefords.

By 1422 the ownership had changed. No-one quite knows when John Crow sold his land but the Court Rolls for 1422 record that one Richard Rolfe died, leaving Gillrolfes (formerly Gyldiefords), by then an eight acre estate, to his family. Rolfe had changed the name of the land to his own surname as was common in those days, the first part ‘Gill’ simply being the old English word for Glen. At this time people were often identified by the place that they came form or by their trade. This is why so many Englishmen have Smith as their surname today from the trades of blacksmith, silversmith, shoesmith and so on. Richard would have been known as Richard of Gill Rolfe.

Little Gilwell was an 'L' shaped piece of land sitting behind and to the left of the farm with Great Gilwell, the larger field, running across what is now the Boys' Field to Hoe Lane. To the front of the farm was an open public area called Gilwell Green.

Oldest known map, showing the extent of Gilwell

Shortly after Rolfe's death, an adjoining property of some 14 acres on the other side of Hoe Lane, was purchased by Richard Osborne. He built a house which he called Osborne Hall on the site of roughly where the White House is today. It would be easy to be fooled into believing that Osborne built something as grand or as large as the White House but clearly this would not be true. The building must though have been of some considerable size and well constructed because, although we know little of Osborne himself, the name of Osborne Hall lived on for the next 300 years...

Deeds to Gilwell, dating back to 1752

To continue the story of the history of Gilwell Park you can purchase the book ‘Gilwell Park and the White House – A brief history and guided tours’ from The Scout Association.

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