West Wycombe

This charming estate village, where many of the houses are owned by the National Trust, has a main street displaying architecture from the 15th through to the 19th century. Close by is West Wycombe Park, which, although owned by the National Trust, is still the home of the Dashwood family, local landowners who built it in the 1760s. The magnificent house has appeared in several film and TV productions, including BBC-TV’s 2008 production of Cranford.

Of the various members of the Dashwood family, it was Sir Francis who had most influence on both the house and the village. West Wycombe house was originally built in the early 1700s, but Sir Francis boldly remodelled it several years later as well as having the grounds and park landscaped by Thomas Cook, a pupil of Capability Brown. Very much a classical landscape, the grounds contain temples and an artificial lake shaped like a swan, and the house has a good collection of tapestries, furniture and paintings.

Hewn out of a nearby hillside are West Wycombe Caves (Hell-Fire Caves – see panel above), which were created, possibly from some existing caverns, by Sir Francis as part of a programme of public works. After a series of failed harvests, which created great poverty and distress amongst the estate workers and tenant farmers, Sir Francis employed the men to extract chalk from the hillside to be used in the construction of the new road between the village and High Wycombe.

The village Church of St Lawrence is yet another example of Sir Francis’ enthusiasm for remodelling old buildings. Situated within the remnants of an Iron Age fort on top of a steep hill, the church was originally constructed in the 13th century. Its isolated position, however, was not intentional as the church was originally the church of the village of Haveringdon, which has long since disappeared. Dashwood remodelled the interior in the 1760s in the style of an Egyptian hall and also heightened the tower, adding on the top a great golden ball where six people could meet in comfort and seclusion.

The Dashwood Mausoleum near the church was built in 1765; a vast hexagonal building without a roof, it is the resting place of Sir Francis and other members of the Dashwood family. Sir Francis had a racier side to his character. As well as being remembered as a great traveller and a successful politician, he was the founder of the Hell-Fire Club. This group of rakes, who were also known as the Brotherhood of Sir Francis or Dashwood’s Apostles, met a couple of times a year to engage in highly colourful activities. Though their exploits were legendary, and probably loosely based on fact, they no doubt consumed large quantities of alcohol and enjoyed the company of women. Traditionally, the group meetings were held in the caves, or possibly the church tower, though between 1750 and 1774, their meeting place was nearby Medmenham Abbey.