Larch Hill International Scout and Guide Centre is the national campsite, and administrative and training headquarters of Scouting Ireland. It was previously owned by Scouting Ireland (CSI). Overview Larch Hill, which was purchased in 1937, has seen a number of developments following the creation of Scouting Ireland in 2004. A pyramidical headquarters building is a focal point of Larch Hill. Larch Hill is so called as it is reputed that it was the site of the first ever planting of the European Larch species in Ireland. The site, which is at 226 metres above sea level, consists of camping fields, a small hostel, conference facilities (in the Millennium Room), hiking trails, a nature centre, a Beaver Scout playground and a large campfire circle. The warden staff of the site, or the Meitheal, are voluntary members of Scouting Ireland and wear an orange neckerchief with the Larch symbol. They were also entitled (under Scouting Ireland (CSI)) to wear unique orange epaulettes. History Larch Hill has been the home of several individuals over the centuries, the earliest known being a 'Mr. Smith', who is noted as living there on an 1801 map. The earliest existing buildings, however, were built as a summer house for a wealthy Dublin merchant, J.P., and alderman, John O'Neill (1768/9-1843) of Fitzwilliam Square, whose business premises were on Ormond Quay. He was at Larch Hill by 1821 at the latest, when he engaged in a charitable parish project of the Rathfarnham Free School "for Educating and Clothing Ninety-four poor Children". He supported the parish and helped the building of a church for the new Church of Ireland parish of Whitechurch, where his family grave and monument can still be found. John O'Neill's son sold Larch Hill in 1845. Another tombstone exists in the graveyard which bears the inscription "Courtney Kenny Clarke, Larch Hill, Died 1873". Again, this owner was a wealthy businessman, and possibly an owner of one of the many mills which existed along the banks of the Owendoher River in Rockbrook. The family of Clarke donated funds to the Whitechurch Church of Ireland Chapel which enabled a vestry to be dedicated in his memory. Clarke married Frances Esther Penfold, a daughter of John Penfold, vicar at Steyning from 1792 until his death in 1840. One of her brothers was Christopher Rawson Penfold of Penfold Wines, Australia. Frances Penfold was born in 1803. Her first husband was