Hellfire Caves
Videos
The Hellfire Caves are a network of man-made chalk and flint caverns which extend 260m underground. They are situated above the village of West Wycombe, at the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills near
Entrance to the caves, 2008
A tunnel in the Hellfire Caves
Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, PC, FRS was an English politician and rake, Chancellor of the Exchequer and founder of the Hellfire Club.
Hellfire Caves
…at the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, South East England. They were excavated between 1748 and 1752 for Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer (2nd Baronet), founder of the Society of Dilettanti and co-founder of the Hellfire Club, whose meetings were held in the caves. The caves have been…
Francis Baron le Despencer by Nathaniel Dance Holland
Portrait by William Hogarth from the late 1750s, parodying Renaissance images of Francis of Assisi. The bible has been replaced by a copy of the erotic novel Elegantiae Latini sermonis, and the profile of his friend Lord Sandwich peers from the halo.
West Wycombe Park