Tyneham House

One of Purbeck's finest country houses

Known locally as 'The Great House', Tyneham House was the largest building in the village: an Elizabethan manor built between 1563 and 1583 by Henry Williams, with a medieval wing surviving from the earlier house on the site.

Home to the Bond family for over 260 years, the house was surrounded by lawns, lime trees, palms and exotic plants, all made possible by the sheltered valley micro-climate.

Tyneham House – home of the Bond family

The Bonds shaped almost every aspect of village life from their great house. Their influence stretched from the church (where they had a private transept) to the school they funded, and the estate provided work for many local families.

Extract from the Tyneham documentary

Tyneham Manor House – after the evacuation

The RAF requisitioned the house in 1941, two years before the village itself was evacuated, to billet members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) operating the radar station at nearby Brandy Bay. The Bond family moved out of their home of nearly 260 years and into Museum Cottage in the village. One WAAF, recalling her time there as a 19-year-old radar operator, remembered "a beautiful old house that had been in the Bond family for many, many generations"; the girls slept in bare rooms on iron bedsteads while the men camped under canvas in the village.

After the war, the building was boarded up and left largely untouched for years - only a few missing roof tiles hinting at slow neglect.

Tyneham House after the war

In the years following the war, many of the house's valuable fittings and furnishings were removed and reused elsewhere. Oak panelling went to Dorset County Museum, a doorway from the north porch found a new home at Athelhampton House, and the steps were relocated to Bingham's Melcombe.

Some stories even suggest prized items made their way across the Atlantic to homes in the United States.

By the late 1960s, the house was deemed beyond repair and demolished - a decision many still regret, believing it could have been saved like the church and school. Hidden away in Great Wood, half a mile from the village, it was out of public sight, making the demolition easier to carry out quietly.

The remains of Tyneham House today

What's left of Tyneham House is now hidden deep in Great Wood and strictly off-limits to the public. From certain distant viewpoints in winter (when foliage is thinner), you can just catch a glimpse of the ruins among the trees.