Before I visited the Hell-fire caves (also known as West Wycombe Caves) in Buckinghamshire at the end of July, I did not know about the history and the story behind them or the Hell-fire Club, the club that is associated with the caves. The caves are surrounded by myth, ghosts, lavish parties, and secret clubs frequented by the wealthy and the likes of Benjamin Franklin. I found this visit very interesting, and it alerted me to a part of history that I did not know about before. The caves were opened for tourism in 1951.
In short, the Hell-fire caves are various chambers carved into a hillside. The man-made caves were excavated in the mid-1700s for Francis Dashwood, who employed local farmers for three consecutive years to give them a job due to harvest failures; in addition to these caves, a new road and buildings were constructed. The caves are over half a mile long and end at a chamber called "The Banqueting Hall". There are many carved chambers, and I will mention these later.
The Hell-fire caves are built into the hillside where St Lawrence's Church and Mausoleum is located on top of the hill. Dashwood, who commissioned the digging of the caves, was a founder of the Dilettanti Society, a society that was probably established as the London Dining Society and put together by people who were interested in the arts and who had done the Grand Tour of Europe, which included visits to famous attractions. This tour was typically made by upper class men who could afford to travel and see the sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum, Milan, Rome, Turin, Florence, Malta and Greece. Drinking featured heavily in the club, with members spending time during the tour drunk. In addition to the Dilettanti club, Dashwood was co-founder of the Hell-fire club, which is how the caves got their names. The meetings of the club were held in the caves.
The entrance to the caves resembles a mock gothic church made from flint and chalk at the same time as the caves. The designs of the caves and chambers were inspired by Dashwood's Grand Tour visits. The Hell-fire club was put together to ridicule religion with members calling themselves devils and creating mock religious ceremonies. Members also attended the meetings dressed like Biblical characters. Perhaps this and the architecture seen in Europe is why the entrance of the cave resembles a gothic church.
The Hell-fire Club held pagan beliefs (though more likely inspired by the Grand Tour and ridicule of modern religion) with the worship to Bacchus (god of wine) and Venus (goddess of beauty). Meetings were held twice a month with some lasting over a week in June and September. There were rumours of black magic, satanic rituals and orgies. The meetings probably included mock rituals, drinking, womanising, and banqueting. The club actually did not operate for long as it dissolved in 1766. It flourished until 1763 when political disagreements and an incident with a baboon emerged. The baboon incident involved a baboon dressed as the devil (and hidden in a box) during one of the mock rituals jumped out and onto the back of Lord Sandwich, which caused him and other members distress.
The chambers are known as Franklin's Cave (named after Benjamin Franklin, who was a friend of Dashwood), Banqueting Hall (largest man-made chalk cavern in the world), the Triangle, Miner's Cave, Lord Sandwich's Circle, and the Inner Temple. Outside the Inner Temple is an underground river known as Styx after the underground river in mythology.
Benjamin Franklin moved to America and worked as a printer. He set up a very successful printing business in America, and he strived to better himself by learning several languages and setting up the Library Company, which was America's first circulating library. He made sure that his hometown Philadelphia was on the cutting edge; it was one of the first to have electricity, paving, police, and firefighters. He and Dashwood tried to get Britain and the United States to agree on compromise toward independence, but this failed and Franklin was committed to assist the United States in independence. He became advisor to George Washington and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He also called to abolish slavery in the 1790s. As a good friend of Dashwood, he also enjoyed hoaxes and playing jokes on people, and they both contributed to inventions and writing.
One wall in the caves has the Roman numerals for '22' (XXII) carved into it.
One of the chambers is called "Children's Cave". The reason for this is that children loved to visit the caves since the mid-1700s. The caretaker would provide them with a small candle.
Before the end of the cave, visitors must walk over the River "Styx", and this leads to a large open chamber called the "Banqueting Hall".
The caves are also known to be haunted and have appeared in a television show about ghosts, and there are often overnight paranormal experiences. There are several stories surrounding the ghosts. The first is of Paul Whitehead. Paul Whitehead was a member of the Hell-fire club who had his heart placed in an urn inside the Dashwood Mausoleum because he was fond of the friendship he and Dashwood had in life. In 1829, the heart was removed by an Australian soldier. The urn was placed inside the caves, and the ghost is rumoured to search for the missing heart. Another ghost could be a lady in a bride's dress who refused the advances of three local boys, who lured her to the caves and murdered her.
After visiting the caves, I walked back down the hill although there is separate parking at the caves. On the top of the hill, the church could be visited.
The caves are open all year but have reduced hours in the winter. They are located in rural Buckinghamshire and are open from April until Halloween, where they put on special Halloween-themed visits. There is a small fee to enter and explore the caves.
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