Tyneham is a ghost village and former civil parish, now in the civil parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in south Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. In 2001 the civil parish had a population of 0. The civil parish was abolished on 1 April 2014 and merged with Steeple to form Steeple with Tyneham.[1] It was abandoned during the Second World War when it was taken over by the government to use as a training area for the American troops in preparation for the landings and liberation of France on D-Day, and has remained under the ownership of the British government for use as a military training site ever since.
Coverage[]
Tyneham is featured in The Invaders in 65 years segment. Gordon Masterton and Lynda Price visit the town and show progress of nature.
Second World War[]
Tyneham before the Second World War.
The area Tyneham sits on has been inhabited for at least 5,000 years, and the village itself was populated until the outbreak of World War II. The cause of the abandonment is that the British government took over the valley as a training ground for American troops that were preparing to invade and liberate France on D-Day, and the population were 252 when in middle of December 1943 that the British government asked them to leave until Christmas. Lynda Price stated that the farmers sold everything in Tyneham and the last person to leave was the lady of the manor where she pinned a notice onto the church door as she left stating that they have given up their homes that had lived for generations to help win the war to keep man free and one day they will return and thanks them for treating the village kindly. She then stated that while it was thought that people would allowed to return, the Cold War in the late forties and fifties have the cause the army to decided to retain the land.
Exploration[]
Ever since Tyneham have been abandoned since 1943, the stone farmhouses built in the early 19th century demonstrate how time and seasons can destroy what man built. Gordon Masterton investigate one of the stone farmhouses, showing the processes of neglect have allowed to happen. He shows the timber lintel that have been attacked by woodworm causing it to split to a critical point near to the support and the stone above leans on the point of collapse. He stated that within the few years, it will collapse to the floor and shows the condition of loose bricks and stones on the ground that already happen, he then stated in few hundred years, it would be a mount of brick and stone.
Depiction of a house collapse in Tyneham.
Gordon Masterton continues that one of the buildings is severely damage and stated that it is not a normal decay or wind, but thanks to the work of a living thing. It was revealed to be the European Badger, a creature that can claw through 3 feet of earth in less than a minute. Badgers are among the world's fastest diggers, and their underground homes, known as setts, can be over a thousand feet long. Gordon Masterton stated that the badgers burrow underneath the walls of the building to the extent of a significant collapse in parts of the building. He then show one example, a 3 feet thick gable wall, he stated that if the badgers continue to extend their property, it will eventually destroy the property erected by humans and it could last for 50 to 60 years before the badgers finally cause the building to collapse.
Other animals have also made the village their home. Lynda Price stated that Tyneham became a sanctuary for birds, animals, and butterflies. However, one animal actually helps preserve the village in its current state, being sheep. The British army allows grazing sheep from nearby farms to enter the village in order to keep the grass short. Without them, the valley would begin to return to its ancient condition. Lynda Price explains that if the grass wasn't frequently kept short, plants would grow rapidly, with the grass being replaced by gorse, brambles, shrubs and eventually a woodland similar to those that were once common across the whole UK would grow.
The show concluded the visit that timber posts will rot and fall, barbed wire corrode in hundreds of years but eventually it will be reabsorbed into earth, and in several thousand years, geological processes will complete with Gordon Masterton concluding that soil will be blown and trees take root, making the only evidence of a former community is the excavation to find the remnants of stone buildings.
Gallery[]
