Gilwell Park

Gilwell Park
Owner	The Scout Association
Location	Waltham Abbey, London, E4 7QW
Gilwell Park (England)
Country	England
Coordinates	51°39′01″N 0°0′08″E / 51.65028°N 0.00222°E / 51.65028; 0.00222
Website www.scoutadventures.org.uk
Scouting portal

Gilwell Park is The Scout Association's principal camp site and activity centre in the United Kingdom. It is a 109-acre (44 ha) site, located in East London in the Sewardstonebury area of Waltham Abbey within Epping Forest near the border with Chingford. It is used by Scout and Guide groups. Adult Scout leader training undertaken at Gilwell Park since 1919 is known as Wood Badge training. Scout leaders from many countries have trained at Gilwell Park and Wood Badge training was followed by some other Scout organisations,^[1] and, therefore, Gilwell Park has taken on importance to other Scout organisations.

Gilwell Park has a number of camping fields, indoor accommodation, historical sites, Scouting monuments and outdoor adventure activities. It can accommodate up to 10,000 people and regularly does so. It is also used by schools and other youth organisations and hosts social events such as weddings and birthday parties.

Gilwell Park is also host to Scout Adventures Gilwell Park, one of twelve national centres run by or in partnership with The Scout Association, including Downe and Youlbury.

Gilwell Park was bought for The Boy Scouts Association in 1919, by one of its Scout commissioners, William de Bois Maclaren to provide camping facilities for London Scouts.