Hell Fire Caves

The caves at West Wycombe, known on the statutory list as "The Cave", were constructed between 1748 and 1752 as part of a landscape scheme created for Sir Francis Dashwood. The entrance is formed by U-shaped retaining walls of flint rubble, opening onto a network of man-made passages that run for roughly a quarter of a mile under the hillside. The structure is recognised nationally for its special architectural and historic interest, holding Grade II* listed status. It stands among a group of eighteenth-century park and hillside features associated with Dashwood's estate at West Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire.