Shadows

Crumbling memory,
Shadows of a home that's lost,
Never to return.


.....
......
Day three of our trip to Dorset.  We went to visit the abandoned Tyneham village.  The village and surrounding area were requisitioned by the Army in 1943 to be used for war training and as a firing range.  The villagers were apparently given one month to evacuate, but the understanding was that they would be able to return after the war.    A notice was pinned to the church door saying:
"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"


However, at the end of the war the Army decided they would like to keep the village and surrounding area, now known as the Lulworth Ranges, and compulsorily purchased the whole lot.

Naturally the village fell into disrepair, but has now been rescued from the ivy and can be visited at times when the firing ranges are in active.

It is poignant to think of those that lost their homes and the way the MOD seized the land.  But in many ways the land has benefitted.  It has been kept free of wholescale farming and pesticide use and is now a precious haven for wildlife.  The "Ranges" are open to the public at certain times and their are many spectacular walks.  The village can now be visited, but is free of all the usual "retail outlets".

Some of the used shells and bits of detritus are now embedded in and on top of a wall by the old farmhouse .... quite an art exhibition....

more photo's here