Tyneham Village

Tyneham Village is a small ghost village found nestled in the Tyneham valley near the Lulworth coast. The Tyneham valley, including the village and the surrounding farms had seen the same families living there for centuries before the whole area was requisitioned by the Army shortly before Christmas 1943 to help with the war effort. Sadly the village was never handed back to its owners and the villagers were never allowed to return to their beloved village.

What's at Tyneham Village?

Tyneham village is open to the public most weekends and school holidays when you can see many of the old buildings including Tyneham School and Tyneham Church which have been restored and opened as small museums of Tyneham villages past. The ruined Tyneham village cottages of Post office row, Laundry cottages, Gwyle cottages, the Gardeners cottage and the Rectory all stand as poignant reminders of a village life in England many years ago. The great barn and stables which were part of Tyneham farm can be seen too. Sadly the Tyneham farm house was completely destroyed whilst the grand Tyneham House remains out of bounds and little more than a ruin.

Worbarrow Bay

After exploring Tyneham village, you can walk through the beautiful Tyneham valley, tracing the steps that many of the villagers would have taken down to Worbarrow Bay where the remains of the fishermans cottages and boathouses can be found.

Visiting Tyneham

Tyneham village is free to public access during the periods it is open - a suggested donation can be given. The village is usually open during holidays and weekends but always check on the government Lulworth Range Walks website because there are times during these periods when it remains closed.

Tyneham School and Church

When you visit Tyneham village, you really get a taste of what life would have been like in this beautiful village back in the 1930s and 40s in a countryside village in England. In Tyneham School, the names of the children are still left on their coat hangers and their work left out on the desks as if a lesson has just taken place and the children have gone out to play, just as they would have done in the early 1940s before village life came to an abrupt end. Tyneham church tells the history of the village, the lives of Tyneham villagers and its owners. A copy of the note left pinned onto Tyneham's church door asking the army to take care of their village is displayed on the door as was originally left by a villager forced to give up their home.

Tyneham ruins

The only 2 buildings that are intact are the church and the school, the houses are roofless ruins but the outer walls still stand, fireplaces can be seen in what would have been upstairs and downstairs rooms - the floors are long gone but the layouts are easily imagined. It doesn't take much to imagine Tyneham village as it would have been on a hot summers day when the village was still thriving, the school and post office shop open, the villagers working out on the farms, on the sea or at the big house. The grand Elizabethan manor house, Tyneham house was owned by the valleys owners, it stood outside the village close to Tyneham Great Wood. Although this is an area out of bounds to the public, it is thought that very little remains of Tyneham House.

Tyneham Village in the 1940s

Wandering around Tyneham village, the woods and ponds, it is easy to imagine just how idyllic the village would have been in its last years. Many of the villagers men at the time the village was requisitioned, would have been away fighting in the war and some didn't learn that their families had had to give up their village until the war had ended. Those that remained would have farmed the land, fished in Worbarrow Bay or been in service at Tyneham House.

Tyneham Village Today

The valley today is a haven full of wildlife and plants. The lack of Human habitation and farming in the valley for the last 70 years has seen nature slowly returning and the village now is one of the few areas in England where one can go back and imagine English village life in the pre war era. Standing in Tyneham villages only street, looking at post office row, its easy to imagine, the roofs back on the small, quaint cottages, children playing in the street and villagers going about their daily business. Byelaws prevent any commercialisation meaning Tyneham valley is locked in time forever.

Remember the last Tyneham Villagers

Information boards tell the history of Tyneham village life with details of the houses last inhabitants. Pictures and villagers stories shown inside each house bring you closer to the villagers that had to leave this lovely part of England. Some of the villagers residents have written books about what life was like in the valley, they are well worth a read.

Visiting Tyneham through the year

Tyneham Village is a great place to visit throughout the year, in the summer, you can enjoy a picnic and the beautiful valley with a trip to Worbarrow bay. In the winter, the fewer visitors means its a lot quieter which gives a different taste of this wonderful gateway to the past. Tyneham Village Ruins. Where village houses once stood, ruins remain. Post Office Row and the phone box, 'the street' at Tyneham Village. Tyneham Village School is one of the few buildings that remains intact, inside are coat pegs with the children's names and desks showing a nature lesson taking place. Tyneham Beach/Worbarrow Beach, the beach a short walk from Tyneham Village where the remains of more houses can be found. Gatehouse Cottages is the most intact ruin at Worbarrow, just before you get to the bay. Very little remains of 'Sea Cottage', the idyllic cottage that once stood right on Worbarrow Bay. The interior of a cottage at Tyneham Village, the fireplaces still in place and we can see where the floors would have been.