West Wycombe is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, England, famed for its manor houses and its hills. It is west of

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

. The historic village is largely a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property and receives a large annual influx of tourists, being the site of

West Wycombe Park West Wycombe Park is a country house built between 1740 and 1800 near the village of West Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It was conceived as a pleasure palace for the 18th-century libertine and dilettante Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Baro ...

, West Wycombe Caves and the Mausoleum on top of West Wycombe Hill. The Mausoleum and Golden Ball above West Wycombe village are impressive local landmarks, visually dominating the village and local landscape for miles surrounding. West Wycombe Park, Caves, Mausoleum and St Lawrence's Church were all constructed in the mid-18th century by Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the Dilettanti Society and co-founder of the notorious

Hellfire Club Hellfire Club was a term used to describe several exclusive Club (organization), clubs for high-society Rake (character), rakes established in Great Britain and Ireland in the 18th Century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood, 11t ...

History

Early history

The hill above West Wycombe (now the site of St Lawrence's Church and the Mausoleum) has been continuously inhabited for centuries. A

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

settlement is widely believed to have existed here, and research suggests there was a pagan temple in a similar style to

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

. The earliest known settlement is an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

ditch and rampart contour camp dating from the fourth or fifth century BC. A Roman settlement later occupied West Wycombe Hill, and local historians believe a temple was constructed here (though the exact site remains unknown).

The lost village of Haveringdon

The next major influence on West Wycombe was the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

. The hillside was once again occupied, and the newly established settlement was named ''Hæferingdune'' (''Hill of Hæfer's people'' in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

). The name later evolved into Haveringdon. The site retained religious importance: a church is said to have been erected by St Birinus (who had become the bishop of the West Saxons in AD 634). A Norman watch tower is also said to have been built on top of the hill. Haveringdon's population is believed to have been greatly reduced by the Bubonic Plague (

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

) in the 1340s. By the 18th century the village had been resited in the valley along the Oxford Road, and renamed due to its geographical features and position: "West" because it was west of

. Both settlements are in the Wye Valley and the word "Combe" derives from the Old English/Brythonic word for "valley". According to local records there were just two ratepayers left in Haveringdon in the 19th century.

The era of Georgians

In the mid 18th century Sir Francis Dashwood commissioned an ambitious project to supply chalk for a three-mile straight road between West Wycombe and High Wycombe, now part of the

A40 road The A40 is a trunk road which runs between London and Goodwick (Fishguard), Wales, and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road (A40) in all legal documents and Acts. Much of its length within England has been superseded by motorw ...

, then a prominent trade route between London, Oxford, and Gloucester and onward to South Wales. The local chalk cave which had been in the village since prehistoric times was expanded into an elaborate network of tunnels and passages. The design of the caves was mostly inspired by Dashwood's Grand Tour of Italy,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. Local villagers, impoverished after a series of harvest failures, were paid a

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

per day to tunnel underground to mine chalk. The caves were all excavated by hand and even today they are viewed as an incredible feat of engineering. Dashwood's family home, West Wycombe House, also underwent major alterations at this time. Although Haveringdon had all but disappeared by then, the church and tower had remained and a centre section was built to join the two together. The Mausoleum was also constructed, based on the design of the Constantine Arch in Rome. The new church was named Saint Lawrence's, as it was common for churches built on Pagan sites to have this name. The church and Mausoleum were also built using chalk and flint from the caves. During this time, Dashwood and other high-powered politicians and society members formed a club then known as ''The Knights of St. Francis'' (which was later named as the

by a London newspaper). They first used Medmenham Abbey, eight miles away from West Wycombe on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, but the caves were later used for the club's meetings. The club was notorious in its day for orgies and black magic, but had disbanded by 1763 (according to church records). The caves fell into disuse and disrepair.

West Wycombe in the 20th century

In 1929 West Wycombe village was put up for sale by the Dashwood family to raise cash following that year's Wall Street crash. It was bought in its entirety by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (better known as the Royal Society of Arts, or simply the RSA) as part of the Society's "Campaign for the Preservation of Ancient Cottages". In 1934, after extensive repairs, the Society handed the property over to the

. The National Trust markets this property under the name 'West Wycombe Village and Hill'. The property features many buildings of architectural value which were built between the 16th and 18th centuries. Between 1862 and 1958 the village was served by West Wycombe railway station, to the east of the village, on the

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham (Birmingham Moor Street railway station, Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill railway station, Snow Hill) on a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington ...

between London and Birmingham. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the caves underwent extensive repairs under the auspices of the Dashwood family and turned into a tourist attraction. The profit earned was used to renovate the dilapidated West Wycombe Park. The caves continue to thrive as a popular tourist attraction today and have received over 2 million visitors since their reopening in 1951.

West Wycombe today

Although it is on the busy A40, the village centre retains much of its historical charm. It is mainly owned by the National Trust, and so has resisted modernisation. The High Street has a number of 'old-fashioned' shops (in appearance at least), as well as three pubs, some small offices and a well-used village hall. Just off the High Street is the village primary school (Reception to Year 6), a traditional furniture maker and a band hall. The population is around 1,300. St Lawrence's Church was until the mid 18th century a medieval building. Between 1752 and 1762 it was rebuilt for Sir Francis Dashwood by the architect John Donowell. The interior was inspired by the Temple of the Sun at Palmyra; the church tower is topped by a large golden globe which originally contained seating for eight people.Goodall, John (2015). ''Parish Church Treasures''. London: Bloomsbury; p. 212 The Swan is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

. It is on the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors The National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors was a register of public houses in the United Kingdom with interiors which had been noted as being of significant historic interest, having remained largely unchanged for at least 30 years, but us ...

. Built in the 18th century, The Swan was refitted and extended in 1932 by Wheelers Wycombe brewery.heritagepubs.org.uk
Historic Pub Interiors
accessdate=17 August 2014 West Wycombe is also a

in Wycombe district.

References

External links

West Wycombe Village website, listing all business for tourism and informationWest Wycombe Village and Hill information at the National TrustWest Wycombe Parish Council
{{authority control National Trust properties in Buckinghamshire Villages in Buckinghamshire Civil parishes in Buckinghamshire Hill forts in Buckinghamshire