Saint Hill Manor purchased by L. Ron Hubbard. Located in East
Grinstead, Sussex, England, the manor served as Mr. Hubbard’s
residence, and as the communication center of Scientology. (CofS)
In the later 50's Hubbard made more visits to Britain and in the Spring of 1959 purchased Saint Hill Manor, in Sussex. This
was to become home and the centre of Scientology operations for the next few years. (The
Sad Tale of Scientology, Eric Townsend, Chapt. 5, pg. 19)
SAINT HILL 1959-66
During the six years that Hubbard lived at Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, he was engaged on several major projects.
There was however a minor project which drew disproportionate attention and lives on in a curious way. As part of his research into the nature and behaviour of different life
forms, he undertook son experiments with tomato plants. This included taking readings of the state of well-being on the
E-meter. ...
As a result of talking to these tomato plants and checking their responses on the meter, Hubbard conducted a form of auditing on them. The plants are said to have
responded by growing to unusual size and giving abundant crops of tomatoes. Although it is now more readily believed that plants respond to being talked to, when this work
was published it was greeted with derision. As a result some of the local people living around East Grinstead have been known to describe Scientologists as Tomato
Worshippers.
During this period international expansion of Scientology was continuing. Churches, more usually known as Organisations and referred to as 'Orgs', were opened in Paris,
London, Capetown, Port Elizabeth, Detroit, Seattle and Hawai. Hubbard's clear intention was to set up a centre for running Scientology worldwide at Saint Hill. In addition to
the Management Centre, an International Council for Dianetics and Scientology was set-up there in 1959.
It may have been at this time that the goal of the movement was established. This is to 'Clear the Planet'. The word Clear is used in the sense that an individual can be
cleared' of his irrational reactions an impulses. It is these irrational responses that are seen as the source r criminal and other acts harmful to oneself or society. A cleared
Planet would be one where all the population was free to behave rationally and society was free of all anti-social behaviour. Moving towards this goal was seen as not only being
desirable for individual happiness and well-being but also as the best preventative action against a degenerating society and even nuclear war.
Saint Hill became an international centre in another sense. People came from all over the world to learn the theory and practice of Dianetics and Scientology techniques. The
enormous quantity of discoveries and therapies were at this time being streamlined into a workable system which would enable an auditor to process individuals from
whatever physical and mental state they found them in, by gradual steps of improved awareness and ability, to Clear and beyond.
The priority given to this work of systematisation was to ensure that every step was proven and would produce predictable results. This introduction of certainty of benefit to
the broad area of psychotherapy led to the term 'technology' being applied to methods and processes used. So emphatic was Hubbard that the proven workable processes
should be used in an unvarying manner that the term 'Standard Tech' was coined and became the motto on the Auditors' badge and certificates.
The out-buildings at Saint Hill Manor were converted into classrooms and auditing rooms. One of the most memorable legacies of this period is the special course which Ron
Hubbard assembled, known as the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, which is still delivered there today.
The methods by which a person studies a subject effectively and efficiently came under Ron Hubbard's scrutiny at this time. The principles evolved were very practical and
ensured that students on these courses understood and could apply the materials they were working on, before they moved on to the next stage.
So effective were these methods that people on courses at Saint Hill could not believe how easy it became to study. This was in sharp contrast to most people's experience
at school or college. Another feature was how enjoyable it was to study. People exhibited great enthusiasm to study and at the end of set study periods shower! little
inclination to finish promptly.
In parallel to making Saint Hill the most advanced study centre of Dianetics and Scientology in the world, Hubbard also set up and ran a processing and training centre or Org,
for the local population. This was to be the prototype of the way Church Orgs were to be run throughout the world.
(The Sad Tale of Scientology,
Eric Townsend, Chapt. 6, pg. 23-26)
1959