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Tyneham is a ghost town. It was evacuated a few days before Christmas 1943 so it could be used for battle training.
 The residents were given pledges by the government that they would be allowed to return after the war but the promises
were broken under pressure from the War Office. A public inquiry was held in 1948, the ‘national interest’ was
upheld and the army still occupies Tyneham and the surrounding area today.
Indeed about 70,000 armour-piercing, high explosive and phosphorous smoke tank shells are fired in the region
around Tyneham and Lulworth each year and throughout the area as far away as Wareham the locals are reminded of
the fact as the Purbeck shudders to the rhythms of the military.
 Access to these beautiful areas is restricted and on every occasion before the roads and paths over the ranges
are opened to the public they have to be searched for unexploded shells. Tyneham is open to the public for a week
at Easter, a week over the Spring Bank Holiday, from the last week in July to the second week in September (inclusive),
two weeks at Christmas and most weekends.
You can still visit Tyneham village. The shells of the old buildings still stand although damaged by the tremors
caused by artillery. The church is still used and the school is set up as though it was abandoned in the middle
of a lesson which contributes to the ghostly feel of the place.
After visiting Tyneham village you would be unwise to miss the opportunity of going down to the coast where
you will find Worbarrow Bay which many would identify as the most picturesque stretch of the whole coastline. Climb
Worbarrow Tout which is a small hill lying just off the shore but still attached to the land and you get a view
all along the coast. Just to the east is Brandy Bay a home once to ammonite fossils and more recently, as the name
would suggest, to the smugglers who used the shores to land their contraband.
Today it is day trippers who bring their boats into the bay during the summer to explore the land and the sea
or simply sunbathe on the beach. It’s quiet at Worbarrow Bay when the army isn’t at play.
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