The estate will be auctioned off on Thursday

A 450-acre estate left without an owner has sold at auction for �2.4m.

The six properties around the village of Clocaenog near Ruthin, in Denbighshire, along with almost 500 acres of land, were sold and the money handed over to the state.

The Crown will benefit from the sale, after the death of the last owner who had no beneficiaries.

Until 1998, the six properties were owned by the five children of the late Roger Jones.

It is believed that he told his children they would only inherit the estate if they did not marry and none of them did.

This has left executors trying to find any surviving relatives.

But none have been found, so the houses went under the hammer at the Brookhouse Mill restaurant in Denbigh on Thursday evening.

The last remaining brother and sister died within days of each other five years ago.

The properties are described as "distressed"

More than 100 people registered as potential bidders but only a fraction actually bid.

The main property is Tyn y Celyn which has 49 acres with it.

David Lowe, of Jones Peckover who auctioned the houses, said the various properties were "somewhat distressed" but not abandoned.

"They haven't been open to the elements or anything of that nature," he said.

Mr Lowe said that 116 people had registered with his firm as potential bidders and 94 of those had Welsh addresses.