A drone's-eye view of Scientology's UK headquarters before this week's gala!

Just in time for the big event happening this Friday through Sunday at Saint Hill Manor, Scientology’s UK headquarters, someone has anonymously posted an incredibly detailed and high resolution drone shot of the entire place.

“Apostate Alex” Barnes-Ross brought it to our attention, and helped us identify the various locations on this large estate that, for the moment anyway, is dominated by the giant tent you see above which will house the party, the 40th Anniversary celebration of the International Association of Scientologists, the church’s membership organization and leader David Miscavige’s slush fund for “Ideal Org” construction projects, as well as the church’s endless litigation and retaliation operations.

Let’s first take a look at a small overview of the entire image before we zoom in for the particulars…

Now let’s zoom in a little on that giant tent and its two overflow tents on the left side, which will be the location for the gala, and where Miscavige will give his big three-hour speech on Friday night about all the great things Scientology has been up to over the last year…

“What a glorious view of Captain Davey’s unwanted erection,” Alex says.

Last year Alex organized the biggest protest at Saint Hill in years, and he learned a lot about local ordinances and permitting, and which ones Scientology has been violating. We asked him for his thoughts about the tent as he prepares for this year’s demonstrations…

Now we can see the IAS tent in stunning detail like never before. This gives us a bird’s-eye view of the sheer scale of the structure and the amount of work that goes into putting on this event.

Under UK planning law, temporary structures under 100 square meters do not require planning permission so long as they are removed within 28 days.

This mammoth eyesore has a square footage of around 4,250 sq. meters, if my maths is right, and it’s been in situ since the beginning of September — 6 weeks ago — and the event hasn’t even happened yet.

Scientology have informed the Council and Sussex Police they expect around 6,000 people to attend this year’s IAS event, but that tent can only legally hold around 3,000 people. So either they’re breaking planning regulations, or they’re lying to the authorities about the numbers.

This is a flagrant breach of planning regulations and shows Scientology’s complete disregard for the law of the land. It’s astonishing to think: they claim our small protest on the grass verge several hundred feet away causes so much disruption to their event and the local community that it should be banned. Meanwhile they’re building this monstrosity without any public consultation or planning permission whatsoever!

While the action will be in the tents this weekend, the drone shot also gives us an unprecedented view of the Saint Hill campus overall, and Alex annotated its features for us. Here are some close ups. We’d love to hear from former Saint Hill staffers or Scientologists who went there for processing to give us their memories of these places.

Alex also pointed out that there’s something interesting about that courtyard in front of the castle-like structure…

“The Castle that was built by child slave labour, that was also built without planning permission? I couldn't think of a more fitting place to learn about Xenu,” Alex says.

“Interesting fact, the courtyard, you see the path that goes up to the main entrance? The whole thing is designed to look like the OT symbol. And then the two weird-shaped paved areas in the middle? That's the interlocking ARC and KRC triangles they use as their logo.”

We can see it, we suppose.

What catches your eye about Scientology’s UK cathedral grounds?

We can hardly wait for this weekend’s blowout.

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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history

Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea

Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time

Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology

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