The Hellfire Caves

The Knights of St Francis of Wycombe or the Hellfire Club as it was later called was a natural progression from earlier clubs founded by Sir Francis Dashwood in the mid 18th. Century, such as the Dilettanti Society, which was started in 1733 to encourage interest in classical art and still flourishes, and the Divan Club in 1744 for those who had visited the Ottoman Empire. During his visits to Italy on his Grand Tours, Sir Francis had developed an acute antipathy?towards the Roman Catholic Church, and on his return had gone so far as to?have himself painted by Nathaniel Dance as a Franciscan monk, by?Carpentiers as Pope Pontius VII toasting the statue of Venus, by Hogarth as a?Franciscan friar leering at a recumbent statue of Venus and with a halo around?his head enclosing the face of Lord Sandwich, and by Knapton in 1742 as San Francisco di?Wycombo, again toasting a statue of Venus which can still be seen at West Wycombe.