I say it WAS a a peaceful little hamlet but it is Dorset's most famous lost village.

It was in November 1943 that notice was served to the villages to move out within 28 days as the village was being commandeered by the War Office as a training area for the Military, they were not to know it was to train them for the D-Day landings, and it was on 17th December that the villagers left thinking that one day they would be back.

But this was never to happen as even today the village is still a part of the Ministry of Defence ranges and access can only be obtained at certain times of the year, when no firing is going on. This  is now part of the famous Lulworth Tank ranges. Only the schoolhouse and church remain intact the former being restored with the children's names on their pegs and their work at their desks.

The church is dedicated to St Mary and is built mainly of Limestone rubble dated from the 13th century and the transept was rebuilt by the Revd William Bond during the 19th century, and inside are memorials to the Bond family who lived at Tyneham House.

When the army moved in the church was neglected and fittings were removed, the bells and organ were transferred to Steeple church and the pulpit which was Jacobean went to Lulworth Camp. Today though the military maintain the church and it is now a museum on the history of the Tyneham valley, when Tyneham was cleared of its inhabitants the ruined hamlets of Povington, Egliston and Worbarrow were also included