SPECTRALWhat happened here
Sir Francis Dashwood had the caves dug between 1748 and 1752, partly to give work to farm labourers after a run of failed harvests; the chalk went into a new road to High Wycombe. The tunnels wind past a banqueting hall and over an underground stream, named the River Styx, to the Inner Temple.
Dashwood's club, the Order of the Knights of St Francis — known to gossips as the Hellfire Club — met here and at nearby Medmenham Abbey. Its members included politicians and aristocrats, and rumours of black masses and orgies followed them, though what really went on is unknown.
The legends
The best-known ghost is Sukie, a young barmaid at the George and Dragon inn in the 1760s. The story goes that local boys tricked her into coming to the caves in a white dress, expecting to meet a lord who wanted to marry her; in the scuffle that followed she was struck by a stone and died. Her white figure is reported in the caves and at the inn.
Visitors also describe cold spots, voices and footsteps in the tunnels, and some claim to have seen robed figures near the Inner Temple.
Fact or legend?
The caves, the club and its members are real history. Sukie's story is local legend with no surviving record, and the club's “rituals” were more likely drinking parties with a taste for mock-religious theatre than anything supernatural.
Visiting
The caves are open to visitors, with longer opening in summer, and host ghost hunts and Halloween events. West Wycombe Park, the Dashwood family home, is next door. Check opening days before you go.
