Hell-Fire Cave Survey

The Hell-Fire Caves at West Wycombe are a complicated series of tunnels and chambers, hewn by human hand in the mid 18th century. Sir Francis Dashwood commissioned the creation of the caves to serve as a meeting place for his friends who formed a club known as the Monks of Medmenham or the Knights of St Francis.

To date, very little archaeological evidence from the caves has surfaced. As part of my research on the Hell-Fire Clubs, I would like to undertake a 3D laser scan of the whole complex. This is an enormous task as the caves stretch for over a quarter mile underground, twisting and turning all the way. My previous attempts to hand survey have been moderately successful, but the laser scanning would offer the opportunity to record the site in full 3D, including detailed imaging of the wall surfaces. My intention is to make this 3D plan available online for anyone to access, and I will use the information collected to inform my archaeological PhD studies.

I have received a very low price to conduct the scanning, but it is still far outside my student budget. The scanning itself will cost c.£1500-£1750.

Please help me achieve my goal to scan the caves and share my findings widely - you can do this by donating as much or as little as you like here: http://wefund.com/project/hell-fire-cave-mapping/p59473/

Many Thanks! Ash

UPDATE: Great news - the BGS have offered to step in and support my research by providing the scanning for me! Wow! Really looking forward to working with them and sharing the results in the next couple of months.

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL PRESS RELEASE

Student undertakes landmark 3D scan of Hell-Fire Caves


Press release issued: 28 March 2014



A PhD student at the University of Bristol is raising money to undertake a ground-breaking 3D scan of one of the most mysterious sites in the UK - the Hell-Fire Caves of West Wycombe.

Aisling Tierney, who is self-funding her PhD, is researching the historical archaeology of Hell-Fire Clubs across the UK and Ireland.

Hell-Fire Clubs began in London in the 1720s and spread from there to Dublin and Limerick. Each club was very different, but they were usually headed up by landed gentry and saw heavy drinking and countryside retreats – as well as attracting accusations of blasphemy.

The Hell-Fire Caves of West Wycombe stretch for a quarter of a mile underground. The man-made caves were hewn from a hill near West Wycombe, and include corridors and banqueting halls.They were built under the direction of Sir Francis Dashwood, who was a wealthy aristocrat with huge political power. His interests included drinking, literature and blasphemy, and the caves were built to reflect these.

The Hell-Fire Caves have never been studied before and all analysis of the Hell-Fire Clubs has been by lay historians reliant on documentary evidence, with a lack of archaeological and theoretical analysis.

Aisling’s research focuses on an approach covering material culture, archaeology, history and archaeological theoretical insights.

3D imaging will provide a more interactive map, as well as allowing for in-depth analysis, such as the number of man-hours required to carve the caves, carved symbols, tunnels and the relative size and spacing of the chambers.

Aisling said: “In 2008, I went to the Oxfam second-hand bookshop on Park Street, Bristol, and came across a book by Geoffrey Ashe – The Hell-Fire Clubs: A History of Immorality. It was fascinating, but one thing struck me; while the historical content was fairly good, there was simply no acknowledgement of the archaeology. The author hadn’t even thought to check out the physical building remains of the Hell-Fire Clubs, he had just assessed documentary evidence.


“The archaeologist in me was screaming to look at the sites and see how they might impact on our understanding of what the clubs were really about. That’s when I started investigating and found out that there were intact buildings in my home county of Limerick, Ireland, further west in Dublin, and in Buckinghamshire.”

As well as the results providing an essential part of Aisling’s PhD research, other organisations have also expressed an interest, such as the British Geographical Survey group who could use it as a test bed for surveying techniques.

Further uses for the scans could include tourism, including a virtual walkthrough for those unable to physically access them.

Aisling is currently appealing for funding through a WeFund Appeal, and hopes to conduct the scanning between April and June 2014.

You can also follow her progress via her Twitter account.