Editing Hellfire Club (section)

===Meetings and club activities===
Sir Francis's club was never originally known as a Hellfire Club; it was given this name much later.<ref name="Blackett-Ord p. 46"/><ref name="Ashe p. 111"/> His club in fact used a number of other names, such as the ''Brotherhood of St. Francis of Wy'',<ref>Ashe p.111</ref> ''Order of Knights of West Wycombe'', ''The Order of the Friars of St Francis of Wycombe'',<ref name="Simon"/> and later, after moving their meetings to [[Medmenham#Abbey|Medmenham Abbey]], they became the ''Monks'' or ''Friars of Medmenham''.<ref>Ashe p. 112</ref> The first meeting at Sir Francis's family home in [[West Wycombe Park|West Wycombe]] was held on ''[[Walpurgis Night]]'', 1752; a much larger meeting, it was something of a failure and no large-scale meetings were held there again. In 1751, Dashwood, leased Medmenham Abbey<ref name="Simon"/> on the [[Thames]] from a friend, Francis Duffield.<ref>Ashe p.118</ref>

On moving into Medmenham Abbey, Dashwood had numerous expensive works done on the building. It was rebuilt by the architect [[Nicholas Revett]] in the style of the 18th-century [[Gothic revival]]. At this time, the motto ''Fais ce que tu voudras'' was placed above a doorway in stained glass.<ref name="Ashe"/> It is thought that William Hogarth may have executed murals for this building; none, however, survive. Eventually, the meetings were moved out of the abbey into a [[Hellfire Caves|series of tunnels and caves in West Wycombe Hill]].<ref>[https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/05/11/medmenham-abbey/ Medmenham Abbey – Home of the Notorious Secret Society ‘Hellfire Club’]</ref>
They were decorated again with mythological themes, phallic symbols and other items of a sexual nature.

Records indicate that the members performed "obscene parodies of religious rites" according to one source.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=E5AtDAAAQBAJ&dq=A+Cistercian+++Medmenham&pg=PT99 The Thames Path: National Trail from London to the river's source]</ref> According to [[Horace Walpole]], the members' "practice was rigorously pagan: [[Dionysus|Bacchus]] and [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] were the deities to whom they almost publicly sacrificed; and the nymphs and the [[hogshead]]s that were laid in against the festivals of this new church, sufficiently informed the neighbourhood of the complexion of those hermits." Dashwood's garden at West Wycombe contained numerous statues and shrines to different gods; [[Daphne]] and [[Flora (mythology)|Flora]], [[Priapus]] and the previously mentioned Venus and [[Dionysus]].<ref>Ashe p. 114</ref>

A parish history from 1925 stated that members included "[[Frederick, Prince of Wales]], the Duke of Queensberry, the Earl of Bute, Lord Melcombe, Sir William Stanhope, K.B, Sir John Dashwood-King, bart., Sir Francis Delaval, K.B., Sir John Vanluttan, kt., Henry Vansittart, afterwards Governor of Bengal, (fn. 13) and Paul Whitehead the poet".<ref>[https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/bucks/vol3/pp84-89 Parishes: Medmenham Pages 84–89 A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 3]</ref> Meetings occurred twice a month, with an [[Annual general meeting|AGM]] lasting a week or more in June or September.<ref>Ashe p. 125</ref> The members addressed each other as "Brothers" and the leader, which changed regularly, as "Abbot". During meetings members supposedly wore ritual clothing: white trousers, jacket and cap, while the "Abbot" wore a red ensemble of the same style.<ref>Ashe p 125</ref> Legends of [[Black Mass]]es and Satan or demon worship have subsequently become attached to the club, beginning in the late Nineteenth Century. Rumours saw female "guests" (a [[euphemism]] for prostitutes) referred to as "Nuns". Dashwood's Club meetings often included mock rituals, items of a pornographic nature, much drinking, wenching and banqueting.<ref>Ashe p. 133</ref>