Hell-Fire Caves

About

The Hellfire Caves were excavated in the mid-17th century as part of Sir Francis Dashwood’s ambitious project to alleviate local poverty by mining chalk to construct a nearby road. Dashwood then had the mines transformed into a network of halls and chambers to use as a meeting place for his infamous Hellfire Club - an exclusive club where members of high society could partake in all manor of immoral acts. The chambers include a banquet hall, and Franklin’s Cave (named for Dashwood’s friend, and Hellfire guest, Benjamin Franklin). The tunnel ends with the ‘Inner Temple’, reached by crossing a stream known as the River Styx, where the club held their lecherous meetings. Today a series tableaus illuminate some of the supposed-goings on, but the truth is lost in the annals of history. For more information, please visit hellfirecaves.co.uk. Photo by ian freeman under CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hellfire_Caves_-_panoramio.jpg)