Pax Hill

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pax Hill

Pax Hill near Bentley in England was the family home of the founder of the Boy Scout Movement, Robert Baden-Powell , and his wife Olave .

location

Pax Hill is part of Bentley, which lies in a nature reserve between Farnham and Alton on the border of the counties of Surrey and Hampshire . The property is approximately half a kilometer from the main A31 road that links the counties.

history

Baden-Powell owned Pax Hill from 1918 to 1939. Originally the house given to him by his father-in-law in 1918 was called "Blackacre". Baden-Powell renamed it to "Pax Hill" after the purchase, where Pax stands for peace in Latin and Hill indicates the slight elevation on which the house stands.

In 1929 there was a break-in in which some of the personal memories of the Baden-Powell family were stolen. Olave's mother moved in with them in 1931 when the Baden-Powell family was not doing well financially and the staff had to be reduced to five house servants and two gardeners. Shortly afterwards, she suffered a stroke and required intensive care. She died in 1932, but left nothing to Olave.

In the following years, Baden-Powell and his family made many trips to distant countries and continents. The children grew up and left Pax Hill. Baden-Powell's health suffered due to his old age and his many journeys. He and his wife sought relaxation in the hotel "Outspan" (starting point for the famous tree hotel " Treetops ") in Kenya .

In 1939 the family moved to their new residence " Paxtu " in Nyeri (Kenya), where Baden-Powell died on January 8, 1941. Pax Hill was occupied by Canadian military units during World War II ; in compensation, Olave Baden-Powell was awarded an apartment at Hampton Court Palace .

Pax Hill has been owned by the current owner since 1988 and is used as a retirement home and nursing home.

Influence on scout groups in Austria

The Viennese scout group 32 named itself after the family seat of the scout founder. From 2009 to 2015, the scout group Kaltenleutbaren organized the “Pax Hill Festivity” with its own version of the Highland Games to make the scout idea better known in the region.

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 31.6 ″  N , 0 ° 53 ′ 28.6 ″  W.