Tyneham '43 Copyright © Richard J Whiting 2011

Villagers in Tyneham, Dorset, received notice in November 1943 that their village was to be used to train soldiers in the use of new weaponry. They had to leave by December 19th. They were promised that when peace was won, that they would be allowed back to their village. The population of Tyneham (Census 2001) was given as zero.

All along Post Office Row
Fingers opened envelopes;
Mouths quit eating,

Fires Of Memory Copyright © James Knox Whittet 2011

Reading by Paul Jenkins

You who once ploughed hedged Norfolk
fields which slope to the sea in blizzards
of gulls, found yourself in Bergen-Belsen