The hellfire caves were originally made for Sir Francis Dashwood who was the leader of a notorious hellfire club known as the Knights of St Francis who it is said would meet secretly and perform rituals, partake in excessive drinking and casual fornication with prostitutes and the equivalent of 18th-century groupies. No real evidence suggests this but the theories swirled. Sir Francis removed all evidence of the Club in 1766, removing prints and name tags in the caves.
The Caves were originally excavated by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 1740’s with the prime aim being to give employment to the villagers following a succession of failed harvests.
A lot of the graffiti was drawn on during the world war when people used the caves as bunkers.
The underground tunnels contain a number of chambers including the banqueting chamber, which is considered to be the biggest man made chalk cave every created. There is also the river Styx I running through which, is a subterranean river. It’s named after the River Styx in Greek Mythology, which separates Hades from the human world.
The tunnels are supposedly haunted by many ghosts; one or the more famous being that of Paul Whitehead who is said to have left £50 to Sir Francis to purchase an urn for his heart and a spot in the Dashwood Mausoleum. In 1829 Whitehead’s heart was stolen by an Australian solider and the presumably empty urn was placed in the Caves for safekeeping. The ghost of Paul Whitehead is said to haunt the tunnels of the Hellfire Caves eternally searching for his missing heart.
As a very sensitive person I had some really creepy experiences in the tunnels. I felt a presence in many of the rooms in the main chamber I could feel a much lighter energy of celebration and drinking and dancing and it didn’t surprise me to then learn it was the banqueting chamber. Then in the inner chamber I felt massively strong energies and visualised that animal sacrifice of pigs and chickens went on in that room/ I also felt this hand trying to reach into my chest and pull at my heart. I actually didn’t really know about the stories either till I researched them after! It was definitely spooky!
