Tyneham: the English ghost village frozen in time

A visit to Tyneham is a visit to the past: 19 December 1943, to be exact. This is when its 225 villagers – with one month’s notice – evacuated their homes so that their village and the surrounding area could be used for military training as D-Day approached. They never returned. It’s now a time warp, left as it was when the village “died for D-Day”.

A traditional red phone box

Storyboards outside now-roofless cottages reveal what life was like in the village then, as does the restored schoolroom, which is presented as if a lesson had been interrupted.

Parts of the abandoned village were closed in 2019 for safety reasons, but the restored church, which has an exhibition about Tyneham and its residents, school house and farm complex are open.

The remains of the old rectory cottages

Warbarrow Bay

A one-mile walk from the village leads to Warbarrow Bay, where its schoolchildren used to be taken for picnics. It’s still is a perfect spot for lunch: as it’s only accessible through the village, via the South West Coast path, or by sea, you may have it to yourself.

Traditional fingerpost sign

The bay and surrounding coastline are part of the Jurassic Coast – England’s only natural World Heritage Site. This spectacular coastline can be walked as part of the South West Coast path, which runs along here from Studland Bay in the east to Minehead in Somerset.

As it’s part of the Lulworth Army Ranges, two walking routes (coastal and inland) can be found on the Ministry of Defence website, showing why it’s an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Grasslands teem with insects and wild flowers including milk wort, cowslip, and wild parsnip, while the coastline reveals a mixture of limestone, clays and chalk sands and spectacular rock formations.

Warbarrow Bay in Dorset