Saturday, September 15, 2007

Tyneham Village

Recently we went to Tyneham village, nestled in the hills of Purbeck in Dorset this fascinating village was evacuated in WWll for use in the D-Day landings. The many soldiers that took part were billeted here, and practice for the D-Day landings took place in the area. Although the Ministry of Defence promised the inhabitants of Tyneham that their village would be returned to them after the war this never happened, instead the MOD used it for future army manoeuvres. It must of been a disturbing letter to receive when you are out of the country fighting a war only to find that your family has been evicted from their home in the cause of the war effort.
The village is frozen in time, never inhabited since 1943, the story of Tyneham is a fascinating one, before the villagers left a note was pinned to the vilaage church, it read,

'Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly.'

They never returned.

For more info-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyneham

No comments: