Tyneham is a ghost village where time stopped in 1943.
Known as the county’s "lost village", Tyneham, Dorset, is located in a secluded valley between two ridges of the Purbeck Hills.
It has a rich history and has been used by various civilisations throughout the years.
Evidence of human activity in the area dates back to the Iron Age and signs of a Roman presence have been found in the valley.
The church of St. Mary in Tyneham dates back to the 15th century and the village was named in the Doomsday Book.
During the Second World War the village was evacuated.
Get the news you want straight to your inbox. Sign up for a Mirror newsletter here
The landscape of Devon was thought to be ideal for practising military manoeuvres.
US soldiers arrived fresh-faced and keen to get involved in the war - leading Devon to pop up several training camps.
Tyneham and the surrounding area was needed for military training and it was thought to be safer to relocate the village residents.
In total, 7,500 acres around the village was requisitioned just before Christmas 1943 by the War Office.
Sadly, this meant the villagers would lose their homes, but many hoped they would one day return.
An estimated 225 people were displaced from Tyneham and one resident left a message on the church door for the arriving troops.
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."
Despite the hope of returning home, the villagers would never step foot in Tyneham again.
Once the war ended, some Tyneham evacuees settled in newly built houses in Wareham which is around six miles away.
But others were unhappy and longed to return home - sparking protests with villagers demanding the right to go back to Tyneham.
A public enquiry was set up in 1948 which settled the matter.
It decided that a compulsory purchase order was to be issued for the land and Tyneham remained under the ownership of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Further events were organised over the next few years to try to get the Tyneham evacuees back home and reopen the village.
But agreements on the use of the land could not be reached and the different parties involved such as campaigners, the council and the MoD all had different ideas.
In any case, a large number of buildings in the village were rendered uninhabitable and left derelict due to years of use as an army training facility.
Most of the manor house in Tyneham, which has parts dating back to the 14th century, was pulled down in 1967 by the then Ministry of Works.
These days the village is still empty but has some buildings still intact.
It is open to the public and attracts visitors each year who want to see what life looked like in 1943 when the village was evacuated.
The village school, which closed even before the residents were evacuated, has been preserved as a museum.
Likewise St Mary’s Church remains in Tyneham and acts as a living museum to the story of the village.
Despite being empty, Tyneham will always be a tragic reminder of what ordinary Briton’s sacrificed for their freedom in the Second World War.
