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Hell, no damnation The Hellfire Caves are located just outside of West Wycombe. Built around 1750 by the second Sir Francis Dashwood, the Earl of Rosse (1708-1781), they are an intriguingly named site… named after the Hellfire Club, founded by the same earl… and for more than two centuries linked with an awful lot of intrigue… Philip Coppens
The
club began in the 1740s and went on swimmingly until 1763, when
its existence was made known through a series of controversial
articles. The original meetings are said to have taken place in
the George and Vulture Inn in the City, though some meetings were
also held in Dashwood’s house in Hanover Square, as well
as members’ houses elsewhere. It seems the club needed a
home of its own and Dashwood leased Medmenham Abbey in 1751 and
had it fitted for the benefit of the members of his club –
all belonging to the highest rank of English society. From then
on, the former Cistercian abbey would be home to the Hellfire
club, where they would meet, apparently all dressed in a white
hat, white jacket and white trousers, whilst the Prior –
Dashwood – himself had a red hat and a red bonnet.
As
far as the Dashwood family is concerned, there is no immediate
mystery to his ancestor’s life. Still, the caves themselves
have some details that have become the subject of intrigue. What
does it all mean? Most agree that the design had to do with the
Eleusian mysteries of ancient Greece. Modern visitors will feel
that the statues in the niches of the Great Hall, some of which
are of Mithraic design, underline this possibility. However, these
statues are fairly modern additions, for the benefit of the modern
visitors. What was in the niches originally, is not known. Dashwood
definitely created an ancient Egyptian-Graeco-Roman theme for
the club. The visitor to Medmenham was welcomed by a statue of
Harpocrates, the Egyptian god of silence, as well as of his female
equivalent, the goddess Angerona. They seem to be there to remind
the members that they are required to be silent about what goes
on inside. Hic
locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas; “Here is the place where the way divided into two; this on the right is our route to Heaven, but the left-hand path exacts punishment from the wicked, and sends them to pitiless Hell.” They were, after all, the Hellfire club. Most prominent is a statue of Priapus. In myth, Priapus was the son of Pan and Venus, and was born with constant erection. The phallus of the statue was tipped with a flame, underlining the “fire” aspect of the club. And if anyone was left in any doubt, there was another inscription:
“A tense penis, not penitence”, suggesting the club is not a Christian penitent movement… but a sex club. That sex was on the agenda, is no longer in any doubt. Next to the chapel in Medmenham were some cells which, according to Horace Walpole, were fitted with cots and the “brothers take their women there”. “Among the amusement”, John Wilkes said, “they had sometimes a mock celebration of the more ridiculous rites of the foreign religious orders, of the Church of Rome, of the Franciscans in particular…” Yet, Wilkes stated he was never admitted to the chapter-room where these rites occurred, so his opinion is just that; it is not evidence. At the same time, it is known that women were allowed to partake in the joys of the flesh too. To
dismiss the club as “just” a sex club would not do
it justice. Though sex was important, the members placed sex in
a religious framework, as it had existed in ancient times. In
1977, Jesse Lasky Jr and Pat Silver argued that Dashwood was indeed
restoring pagan worship. Thus, the Friars drink in honour of Bacchus,
or Dionysos. Lt.-Col. Towers stated: “My interpretation
of the caves remains as stated, that they were used as a Dionysian
oracular temple, based upon Dashwood’s reading of the relevant
chapters of Rabelais.” The dining room in Dashwood’s
house also had depictions of Bacchus. The east wing, built in
1754, is based on a Greek temple; the west wing is a reconstruction
of the temple of Bacchus, as seen by Dashwood at Smyrna. Their
food is consumed in his tradition and the subsequent sexual exploits
are deemed to be nothing but the famous drinking, eating and sexual
activities that were known to be held for the deity in ancient
times. It seems that the members even considered masturbation
a sacred act, as long as it was pledged to the goddess –
just like Bacchus drank in honour of the Goddess. Medmenham
or the caves – with only the number 22 and 34 as “decoration”
– are not the only constructions that incorporate aspects
of Dashwood’s vision. The church of St Lawrence, built above
the cave system, has a ceiling that is a copy of that of the ruined
Temple of the Sun at Palmyra. The church itself has a golden ball
on top. Both elements reveal that Dashwood was not only influenced
by the ancient mysteries, but also by the ancient sun cults.
Sir Francis Dashwood The presence of a secret “cell” in which a loved one is resting in a sublime peace is very reminiscent of the tomb of Venus, as she is portrayed in the Rosicrucian literature, which revolves around the discovery of this secret chamber by Christian Rosenkreutz, the mythical founder of the movement. As this literature had circulated across Europe at the beginning of the 17th century, Dashwood was no doubt familiar with it. Those
who have studied Dashwood, believe they can sum up his vision
in the following statements: When we note that there were supposed to be always nine members present, if we are to take the word of John Hall Stevenson, who founded the Demoniacks, we should wonder – in light of his interest in sex, including masturbation, and the sun cult – whether Dashwood had perhaps been exposed to a system of political thought, known as synarchy, that would be defined by Saint-Yves d'Alveydre in the latter half of the 19th century, and which would equally incorporate ancient symbolism, much of which is prominent in the Hellfire club. Both Dashwood and Saint-Yves d'Alveydre furthermore wanted this concept to bring about political change.
The caves thus entered centuries of neglect. Though Medmenham had been the centre of the club, the caves seem to have played a role too – though any precise purpose has never been revealed. Dashwood had a daughter, Rachel Fanny Antonina, who after her father’s death got a reputation as being a “magnificent witch”. She studied the occult books her father had left her. She once said about the caves: “The clue to all my troubles can be found in the heart of the hill”, never explaining fully what she meant by that, but obviously referring to the caves, if not the Inner Temple and what went on in there. It
is clear that the Club practiced sexual activity, but perhaps
there was also a magical dimension to it. This may have been why
the caves were later believed to be “evil”. The caves
are unlikely to ever reveal their final secret, if only because
the club went apparently to great lengths to make sure no-one
would ever know. Gerald Suster writes: “It is said that
the steward, Paul Whitehead, spent the three days before his death
painstakingly burning all papers. If he did, one wonders why.
If he didn’t, one wonders why it was said.” The Great Hall The oeuvre of Dashwood, however, can best be interpreted in light of the club’s key message: “Do what you want…” In Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais (1494-1553), relates the story of Gargantua, the giant, who gives him an estate along the Loire, where John, a Friar, realises his dream in founding the Abbey of Theleme. Rabelais gives its exact dimensions, which are taken from the Kaballah. It has six sides, which echoes the design of the mausoleum that Dashwood created at West Wycombe. But that is not all. Medmenham was an abbey that was located on the river Thames. Francis considered him and his club to be “friars”. Like Friar John realises his dream in the abbey of Theleme on the river Loire, Friar Francis realised his dream in Medmenham Abbey on the river Thames – and later in the creation of the cave complex. Finally, let us not forget that it was believed that the river Thames itself was named after Isis, the Egyptian Venus… Members
of the abbey in Rabelais’ account “did as they wanted”.
Or to quote Rabelais: “All their life was regulated not
by laws, statutes or rules, but according to their free will and
pleasure. They rose from bed when they pleased, and drank, ate,
worked and slept when the fancy seized them. Nobody woke them;
nobody compelled them either to eat or to drink, or to do anything
else whatever… In their rules there was only one clause:
do what thou wilt.” |
The
Hellfire Club. It is a spectacular name, in which the name seems
to impart that anyone who was a member may perhaps have liked
some of life’s luxuries that may have warranted a future
imprisonment in the hellfire. Indeed, they did. The club had a
steward, Paul Whitehead, whose job it was to keep inventories
of drinks and other material used by the members at their meeting
centre of Medmenham Abbey, on the Thames, 8 miles from West Wycombe.
The
caves are one long tunnel, along which various niches and halls
have been inserted. Towards the end is an artificial river, ending
in the so-called “Inner Temple”, which sits 300 feet
underneath St Lawrence’s Church, located at the top of the
hill. The entrance to the caves is through at Gothic façade.
Inside the
caves are two Roman numerals. The first is “XXII”,
22, located on the left hand side of the wall some distance inside
the caves. Some believe that they are a measurement in poles of
the distance from the entrance. But why would anyone need to know
such information? Furthermore, why 22, and not 20, or any other
number? No wonder then that two poems have it that the location
of the number XXII marks the location of a secret passage, which
is said to run from the caves to the church above. 
A clue does come from the actions of Dashwood himself. In 1738,
he visited Italy and developed an antipathy towards the Roman
Catholic Church. But rather than become an atheist, he seems to
have embraced another religion. In paintings, he has himself depicted
in the presence of a statue of Venus. Furthermore, he adopts the
motto “Fay ce que voudras, Do as you wish”, which
he has taken from Rabelais and which is the same motto that Aleister
Crowley will use in the 20th century. Rabelais himself lent it
from St Augustine of Hippo. For his part, Dashwood has it inscribed
over the archway at the entrance of Medmenham, which thus can
be seen as the theme under which the club operated. 
PENI
TENTO 
Take
twenty steps and rest awhile
The
Hellfire club had at one point the most prominent members of British
society amongst its members. Suster notes that the Friars, by
1762, dominated the government of Great Britain. That same year,
their existence was made public, and it was revealed that the
Prime Minister, The Marquis of Bute, along with The Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Sir Francis Dashwood and another Cabinet member,
were members. This public outing, in a controversial manner, meant
that most members decided not to attend. It began to signal the
decline of the club. Still, no harm or ridicule to came to Dashwood
personally, becoming friends with Benjamin Franklin, the future
mastermind behind the American Revolution. But the club had had
its day. In 1766, the chapter room and other rooms in the abbey
were apparently stripped naked. Eventually, the lease on the abbey
was not renewed in 1777, whereby the last meeting of the club
is believed to have been held in 1774. 
Whitehead died in 1774 – the year when the final meeting
of the club is believed to have taken place – and left his
heart to Sir Francis, together with 50 pounds for a marble urn.
On August 16, 1775 a procession occurred on Wycombe Hill, in which
the heart of Paul Whitehead, placed in an urn with a marble medallion
representing Asclepius, was carried to the newly constructed mausoleum.
A band of 31 musicians with a military escort carried the urn
to the graveyard.