West Wycombe

Next to the neo-classical West Wycombe Park, sits West Wycombe village, with its ancient, cobbled streets, and traditional coaching inns and shops. The village is owned and maintained by the National Trust, noticeable by the well-preserved facings of the original 16th- and 18th-century buildings lining the High Street. Local shops include The Apple Orchard with its one-of-a-kind gifts and homewares, and there are three inns.

The tower and chancel of St. Lawrence’s Church is the oldest remaining medieval structure in the village. Within its bell turret, the original clock mechanism dates back to 1668. During the 18th century, the church received a Dashwood family makeover, including placing a hollow golden ball atop the tower that could seat up to 10 people. It was described by author John Wilkes as ‘the best globe tavern I was ever in’, and was reputed to be a meeting place for the infamous Hellfire Club.

West Wycombe Hill was once home to an Iron Age settlement. Today, on this spot, there stands the flamboyant Dashwood Mausoleum. This design of this impressive hexagonal structure was based on the Constantine Arch in Rome and is open to the skies. Built from local flint, it contains urns and plaques commemorating members of the Dashwood family and some of their associates.

Rake and reprobate, Sir Francis, 2nd baronet of the Dashwood family, returned from his grand tour of Continental Europe with an insatiable taste for art, sumptuous architecture and mysterious drinking rituals. The interior of the Dashwood’s Palladian Mansion reflects his eccentricities, but its in the series of chalk caves that lie beneath the estate and village where things get really interesting. The Hellfire Caves were dug out by hand in the 1750s to provide employment for out-of-work farmhands. The Caves became a meeting place for Dashwood’s Hellfire Club (boasting members such as the Earl of Sandwich and Benjamin Franklin), which was legendary for its debauchery and ritualistic antics. Said to be haunted, the chalk passages plunge deep into the hillside and lead to the scene of the former revels in the Banqueting Hall and Inner Temple.

Alternatively, visit the manor on one of our West Wycombe and Bradenham Walks. The Hughenden and Downley Walk is a short, easy-going walk that visits the National Trust property, attractive woodlands, the village of Downley and Downley Common. Downley Common is one of 200 commons in the Chilterns, all wrapped in centuries of local history. A children’s quiz and downloadable information leaflet accompany the walk, which can be reached by train from Saunderton station.

Other walks in this series take in West Wycombe, Saunderton, Bradenham, Naphill Common and Downley along various routes.