West Wycombe Woodland Walk: full route

Archaeological remains suggest that there may have been human activity in the area during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. The earliest known settlement was an Iron Age fort at the top of Church Lane. There’s also evidence of Roman activity in the area. The Dashwood family acquired the manor of West Wycombe in 1698. The house and grounds underwent a complete transformation in the 18th century, carried out by their descendant Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer, and were passed to the National Trust in 1943. The entire village was sold by the Dashwood family to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (Royal Society of Arts) in 1929. They carried out extensive repairs before handing it over to the National Trust in 1934. There are many 16th and 18th century buildings to be seen when walking through the village.

West Wycombe Hill is famous for a number of features; the Dashwood Mausoleum, St Lawrence’s Church and The Hellfire Caves. The most notable are the caves, which were excavated to provide both chalk for the new turnpike and work for the local population. They were later used as a meeting place for the notorious Hellfire Club. The Grade I listed St Lawrence’s Church stands on the site of an Iron Age fort. It was originally built to serve the lost village of Haveringdon and was remodelled in its current form by Sir Francis Dashwood. The crowning feature is the Golden Ball, which is large enough to hold six people and is reputed to have been a meeting place for the Hellfire Club. The design of the mausoleum is based on the Constantine Arch in Rome. It was built to house the urns that contain the ashes of the Dashwood family.