Hellfire Caves
West Wycombe Caves (also known as the Hell-Fire Caves) are a network of man-made chalk and flint caverns which extend a quarter of a mile (400 metres) underground. They are situated above the village of West Wycombe, at the southern edge of the Chiltern Hills near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, Southeast England.
They were excavated between 1748 and 1752 for the infamous Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer (2nd Baronet), founder of the Dilettanti Society and co-founder of the notorious Hellfire Club, whose meetings were held in the caves.
They have been operating as a tourist attraction since 1951 and have attracted over 2 million visitors since their reopening.
Read more about Hellfire Caves: Location, Design and Layout, Hauntings, West Wycombe Caves On TV
Famous quotes containing the words hellfire and/or caves:
“The feelings that Beethoven put into his music were the feelings of a god. There was something olympian in his snarls and rages, and there was a touch of hellfire in his mirth.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!’
Who listened to his voice, obeyed his cry?
Only the echoes, which he made relent,
Rung from their marble caves ‘Repent! Repent!’”
—William Drummond, of Hawthornden (1585–1649)