A large crowd gathered on the lawns of Paxton House to mark the landmark's 250th birthday which also saw the presentation of digitised archival material to a representative of the High Commissioner for Grenada, a country which Paxton House has very strong ties with.
The Home family owned two sugar plantations in Grenada and the Home of Wedderburn Papers in the National Archives of Scotland, contain detailed records and correspondence between 1766 and 1840 relating to them. The owner of these papers, John Home Robertson, founder member of the Paxton Trust, gave permission for them to be digitised with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Morton Charitable Trust. Copies of these documents, some 22,300 images or 94 gigabytes of information were put on a hard disc and Mr Home Robertson presented them to Margaret Noel on Friday. She organises Descendants, a a group for young people of Grenadian descent living in Acton, London. Members of this group paid a very successful visit to Paxton House last year.
Prior to handing over the archives, John Home Robertson made a brief speech, paying tribute the the craftsmen who started building Paxton House in 1758. And he said the challenge for the Paxton Trust was to look after the property as well in the next 250 years as the Home family had in its first quarter millennium.
He said: "Try to imagine Paxton House as an 18th century building site- in 1758 there were no power tools or forklifts, let alone hard hats. So we should recognise the amazing skills and hard work of the men who quarried and dressed all the stone here.
"Members of my family looked after Paxton House for 230 years, and now the challenge for the Trust is to look after it as well as they did for the benefit of local people and visitors for the next 250 years. There is always going to be a Home 'family trustee.' and we will be keeping a close eye on things.
"I am very proud of most of the history of the Home family here, but I am not proud of the fact that Ninian Home owned slave estates in Grenada, although he paid the price when he was killed in a slave uprising in 1795. We were delighted when Grenadians from London came to Paxton as part of the celebration of the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade last year, and today I am presenting a digitised copy of our archive relating to Grenada to Margaret Noel for the people of Grenada.
"It is always good to understand history and to learn from it. I hope that we can build on these contacts with Grenada, and above all I hope that local people and visitors will still be enjoying Paxton House for the next 250 years."
Accepting the archives, Margaret Noel said she was confident Paxton House's legacy will continue and added she was constantly being asked by members of Descendants when they would be next visiting Paxton House.
She concluded: "I'm sure my forefathers would be very proud of the strong ties we have with Paxton House.
"What happened in the past has happened and what's important now is how we go forward and move into the future."
Friday also saw the official launch of a new book entitled 'Creating Paxton: A Natural Garden Idyll' by Carol Jefferson Davies and Elizabeth Snow. It is the first booklet to be produced tracing the history and development of the grounds and gardens at Paxton.