Tyneham Village - A Casualty of War

The village of Tyneham is nestled in a remote valley in Dorset, five miles by road east of Kimmeridge. These five miles of single track road are twisting and tortuous, up hill and down. One wonders if you will ever arrive but I was determined to find this remote place, which just happens to be an anagram of the village where I was born: Teynham in Kent.

Tyneham was a thriving rural community. The inhabitants were farm workers and fishermen, who paid rent to the village owner Ralph Bond. He inherited the village in 1935 from his father William.

During the 2nd World War much of southern England saw a build up of troop encampments as preparations were made for the Normandy invasion that was to occur on 6th June 1944. Lulworth camp remains today and in 1940, following the evacuation at Dunkirk, thousands of men passed through this camp on the way back to their units.

In 1941 Tyneham House was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force as an administrative centre for the radar station at Brandy Bay, which lay to the east of Tyneham. In 1942 Winston Churchill inspected tanks at Lulworth. The writing was on the wall for the fate to befall Tyneham village.

In November 1943 Winston Churchill's War Cabinet issued clearance notices to all 106 properties in an area of approximately 12 square miles, including Tyneham Village. It was necessary for the British Army to extend its existing training area. The residents were given just one month to leave. And they were never to return. When the residents left they pinned this poignant notice to the church door:

"Please treat the church and houses with care. We have given up our homes where many of us have lived for generations, to help win the war to keep men free. We will return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly".

In 1945 with the Cold War looming the newly elected government decided to retain the valley and the villagers could not return.

Tyneham church has been beautifully restored

In 1952, Ralph Bond, the last Squire of Tyneham, died "still bitterly unreconciled to the loss of Tyneham and deeply wounded by the government's shabby behaviour and broken promise to return Tyneham to him and its former inhabitants".

In 1967 the Tyneham Action Group was launched by Rodney Legg to campaign for the release of Tyneham and the return of its former families. The publicity produced by this and subsequent groups eventually forced the government to take action. The Lulworth Range land however stayed with the army. But, since 1978 the Army has worked with the Purbeck Heritage Coast project to develop public access to the village (or should I say, the ruins of the village) and surrounding coast and countryside. Buildings have been made safe, coastal paths and walks have been way-marked and information is provided for visitors to the valley.

The remains of Post Office Row, Tyneham

The remains of Rectory Cottages, Tyneham

Part of St. Mary's church interior, Tyneham

Before the 2nd World War, Tyneham was just one of many small isolated Dorset villages. Its residents led a simple life, relying mainly on farming and fishing for their livelihood, oblivious to the future events which would give their home a special place in history. Today the village remains part of the MoD Lulworth Ranges. Only the empty buildings remain, trapped in a time warp. The only positive thought I had as I wandered quietly through the ruins was that the area has remained protected from many of the modern developments that, elsewhere, has changed the face of the Dorset countryside. I thought about the families wrenched from their homes, only allowed to take with them a few chattels. Families that were never allowed to return.

The casualties of war, long forgotten by most... It left me deeply saddened.