Friday, March 29, 2024

Drugs and Dents

A Cumbrian mansion built by opium traders and more recently used by cannabis growers comes to the market for just £1.5 million

 

Built by the well-known Dent family, who made their fortune trading both tea and opium, Flass is a vast 23,000 square foot Palladian mansion on the outskirts of the village of Maulds Meaburn in Cumbria. Ironically it was also the setting for one of the country’s biggest drug raids in May 2012.

 

An aerial shot illustrates the vast size of Flass
An aerial shot illustrates the vast size of Flass

Priced at just £1.5 million – a figure wouldn’t even cover the cost of a basement flat in London’s Knightsbridge – this 8-bedroomed limestone faced residence comes with a three-storey tower and secondary accommodation that includes three flats and a number of outbuildings.

 

Rebuilt on the site of an earlier house in 1851 for Wilkinson Dent and his brother Lancelot, Grade II* listed Flass was designed by architects Grey and Mair and features interiors by the renowned cabinetmakers Gillows of Lancaster. No expense was spared on the construction and it is said that the Dents even decorated the ballroom with real pearls.

 

Flass might be isolated in terms of its location but it certainly features spectacular interiors
Flass might be isolated in terms of its location but it certainly boasts spectacular interiors
Many original features remain within the house
Many original features remain within the house

The Dent family retained ownership of Flass until 1973 and after being used as a residential school for the performing arts in the mid 2000s, the house was last sold for £490,000 in 2000 and again came to attention in 2012 when it was rented to what turned out to be a “major criminal gang” who had “hoodwinked the absentee landlord”.

 

Reports in The Guardian and The Telegraph detail how police raided the property after neighbours complained about a hum from a generator and instead of finding antiques, discovered “the largest ever secret cannabis farm discovered in the country”. Inside they found “an astonishing network of metal ducts, providing ventilation for the damp rooms, and a cannabis ‘mother plant’ the size of a Christmas tree which would have provided seeds for the crop”.

 

Offered for sale through PF&K, Flass is now described as “partially restored” but in need of “further works”. The orangery on the southern wing, for example, is termed “derelict” but the agents optimistically state the 17.31-acre estate “has the potential to create one of the finest country houses in the North of England”. It’s certainly a bargain at just £65 per square foot but drug dealers need not apply.

 

 

Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here:

     

    The Steeple Times
    The Steeple Times
    We research and background check our articles. If you believe we have made and error in some detail please get in touch, we seek always to write the truth and stand against a press owned by a self selected few. Please help us, we will accept all your likes, subscriptions and anonymous suport. The Editor and his team at the Steeple Times.

    2 COMMENTS

    LEAVE A REPLY

    Please enter your comment!
    Please enter your name here

    £1 per week Supports The Steeple Times

    Help journalism to remain honest & independent. You can make a difference to the world today.

    3,573FansLike
    2,068FollowersFollow
    16,731FollowersFollow
    4,962SubscribersSubscribe

    Subscribe For DAILY NEWS

    Please subscribe, like and share this unique site, it helps us tremendously. The Steeple Times in return will send you an email at noon each and everyday, that we sincerely hope you will enjoy & look forward to seeing in your inbox.

    AD
    Advertisement

    Trending Now

    Getting One’s Goat – A Cheesy Conundrum – Goat vs Goats vs Goat’s vs Goats’ Cheese

    Matthew Steeples explores conundrum of how to describe cheese made from goat’s milk and shares thoughts of Susie Dent to Alan Rusbridger, Christine Hamilton, Jay Rayner, Matthew Jukes, Mic Wright, Nigella Lawson, Matthew Wright, Tom Parker Bowles and Samantha Markle on goat cheese.

    Most Popular Articles

    The Phil & Matt Show

    Phillip Schofield filmed smoking shisha with his alleged ex-lover Matt McGreevy (and pictured in bed thereafter); another image shows the pair together in photograph...

    Was Mucky Minx Meghan Markle A ‘Yacht Girl’ For ‘Randy Andy’?

    As author Kirby Sommers suggests that the then Meghan Markle likely spent time with Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein before she met Prince Harry, we again highlight the mucky, murkiness and mendacious manner of this alleged “yacht girl.”

    SchofieldLite

    ‘Politicalite’ suggest Phillip Schofield orchestrated his ‘mass coming out’ after a former ‘This Morning’ runner had gone to the press about a supposed relationship...

    Meddling Meghan Markle Expose – Attwood, Hopkins & Steeples

    Expose interview with Matthew Steeples by Shaun Attwood and Jennifer Hopkins about the former Meghan Markle watched over 73,000 times in 16 hours since it aired; Steeples condemns hapless Prince Harry and his meddling menace wife.

    Ampika Pickston

    Oldham born divorcee and former glamour model Ampika Pickston describes herself as “feisty, fun loving and warm hearted”. Now based in Hale Barns, Cheshire...

    Justice for James Scurlock

    Power of social media proven after senseless killing of James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska allegedly by a controversial bar owner named Jake Gardner who has been photographed with Donald Trump.

    Nasty NestSeekers

    Entitled Hamptons brat Jonathan Davis exposed for allegedly squatting in Sag Harbor during the coronavirus lockdown; it turns out he’s a realtor with NestSeekers.
    [td_block_6 custom_title="Most Liked..." sort="popular7"]