The manor of West Wycombe belonged to the Bishops of Winchester. They never lived at the house but rented it to the Dormer family.

Robert Dormer was created Earl of Caernarvon in 1628. Because of rising debts, his son, the 2nd Earl was forced to sell the estate to Thomas Lewis. Lewis married Elizabeth Dashwood.

In 1698, Lewis transferred West Wycombe to his wife’s two brothers, Samuel and Francis Dashwood. In 1706, Francis bought his brother’s share of the estate. He replaced the original manor with a Queen Anne house laid out with formal gardens.

His son, also called Francis, inherited the estate at sixteen. Between 1726 and 1741, Sir Francis went on several Grand Tours travelling throughout Europe and Asia Minor. During his life, Sir Francis was a politician, philanderer and an impersonator of Charles XII in Russia.

He was a founding member of the Dilettanti Society. The aim of the club was to encourage the study of Greek and Roman art and to create art in that style. However, Horace Walpole’s view on its membership was less complementary: ‘a club for which the nominal qualification is having been to Italy, and the real one, being drunk; the two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy’. However, the society did some good work with Sir Francis becoming a fellow of the Royal Society in 1746 and a member of the Society of Antiquaries.

About 1755, Sir Francis also started the notorious Hell-fire Club or ‘Monks of Medmenham Abbey’. Rented from his half-brother, Sir Francis commissioned the architect Nicholas Revett to rebuild the Abbey. It may have had murals by William Hogarth. Above the entrance was placed, in stained glass, ‘Fay ce que voudras’. The ‘monks’ were called Franciscans (from Sir Francis’s name) and attended regular Chapter Meetings.

Between 1735 and his death in 1781, Sir Francis completely transformed the estate. He converted the Queen Anne house into a Palladian style villa. He redesigned the formal gardens into a more naturalistic style with classical temples and follies. He kept a frigate on the lake and used it to fire cannonballs to entertain his guests.

Many of the buildings were designed by Nicholas Revett while the landscape was laid out by Thomas Cook.

In 1790s, Humphry Repton was asked to West Wycombe. This resulted in few changes with the removal of some garden buildings and statues.

The estate remains little changed today.

In 1943, Sir John Dashwood gave the property to the National Trust.

The house is home to Sir Edward Dashwood and his family.