Britain’s eerie ‘lost village’ abandoned overnight with locals forbidden to return… as last ever resident dies aged 100
THE last resident of an eerie lost village abandoned in WW2 has passed away.
The village was once home to more than 220 people who were all evacuated during the war and never returned.
The village was used as a training camp for allied soldiers in 1943.
Peter Wellman was the last surviving resident of the village, he has now sadly passed away from Pneumonia.
He managed to make one final trip to his old home before his passing.
Villagers were promised they could return when the war was over but were never allowed.
On his last visit to the ‘ghost village’ Peter said: “We had no electricity, no mains gas and no running water – we had to pump that from near the church. There’s a tap there now.
“I remember going to the beach and fishing and we often had mackerel. We were happy until we got moved out.”
The eerie ruins of the village are still on MoD land but they are open to the public for most of the year.
When Tyneham was abandoned, a single note was left by a local asking the arriving soldiers to take good care of the village.
Some of the villagers settled into newly built homes in the nearby town Wareham.
Not one resident ever returned to the village after the war, leaving it a spooky ruin.
A public inquiry, several protests and a number of campaigns to bring the residents home have been launched over the years.
These have all been unsuccessful with a compulsory purchase order being issued and the village remaining the property of the MoD.
Many of the old buildings have been deemed uninhabitable, crumbling over the years.
The school and the church have been converted into museums to teach the public about the villager’s sacrifices.
Eerie photos show bits of the village frozen in time with old posters still hanging in the phone box.
Peter Wellman is survived by his two children, his two grandchildren and his three great grand children.
Peter’s daughter Lynne spoke of her fathers love for his lost home saying he visited regularly.
Peter worked on a farm for 36 years before moving into a job in the clay industry where he stayed until retirement.
He said he would have liked to see residents return to the village one day.
Tyneham has become an increasingly popular destination for history buffs.
The lost village is now crumbling and coming apart giving it an eerie feel.