Tyneham Cap is a prominent, grassy knoll, high, on the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It rises above Brandy Bay and has extensive views along the

Jurassic Coast The Jurassic Coast, also known as the Dorset and East Devon Coast, is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. It stretches from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland Bay in Dorset, a distance of about , and was ins ...

across Kimmeridge Bay towards

Swyre Head Swyre Head is the highest point of the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The hill Swyre Head lies about southwest of the village Kingston, Purbeck, Dorset, Kingston, about south of Corfe Castle (village), Corfe Castle ...

and

St Aldhelm's Head St Alban's Head (corruption of St Aldhelms Head) is a headland located southwest of Swanage, on the coast of Dorset, England. It is the most southerly part of the Purbeck peninsula, and comprises an outcrop of Portland Stone from the overlying ...

to the east, and across

Worbarrow Bay Worbarrow Bay is a large broad and shallow bay just to the east of Lulworth Cove on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England. Location Worbarrow Bay is located about six kilometres south of Wareham, Dorset, Wareham and about 16 kilometres west of S ...

Bindon Hill Bindon Hill is an extensive Iron Age earthworks (engineering), earthwork enclosing a coastal hill area on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth Cove in Dorset, England, about west of Swanage, about south west of Wareham, Dorset, Wareham, and abou ...

above

Lulworth Cove Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, southern England. It is privately owned by the Weld family along with Durdle Door and the Lulworth Estate. The cove is one of the world's finest examples ...

to the west. It is classified as a

TuMP The mountains and hills of the British Isles are categorised into various lists based on different combinations of elevation, prominence, and other criteria such as isolation. These lists are used for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt ...

thanks to its local prominence.

Location

Tyneham Cap lies within the danger area of

Lulworth Ranges The Lulworth Ranges are military firing ranges located between Wareham and Lulworth in Dorset, England. They cover an area of more than , are leased in a rolling contract from the Weld Estate by the Ministry of Defence and are part of the Armour ...

. To the south the terrain plunges over a steep rock face known as Gad Cliff into Brandy Bay on the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. To the north is the east-west valley containing the

abandoned village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, ...

Tyneham Tyneham is a ghost town, ghost village abandoned in 1943 and former civil parish, now in the parish of Steeple with Tyneham, in the Dorset (district), Dorset district, in the south of Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. In 2001 ...

and the village of

Steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a relig ...

. On the far side of the valley is the main ridge of the

Purbeck Hills The Purbeck Hills, also called the Purbeck Ridge or simply the Purbecks, are a ridge of chalk downs in Dorset, England. The ridge is formed by the structure known as the Purbeck Monocline, and extends from Lulworth Cove in the west to Old H ...

rising to

Povington Hill Povington Hill, at high, is one of the highest points on the chain of the Purbeck Hills in south Dorset on the southern coast of England. Its prominence of means it is listed as one of the Tumps, although map sources suggest this honour shoul ...

(191 m, NNW) and

Ridgeway Hill Ridgeway Hill, also referred to as Grange Hill or Steeple Hill, is the third highest point of the Purbeck Hills in the county of Dorset standing at , is one of the only hills with a prominence of over a hundred metres, HuMPs, in the county. Near ...

(199m, NE). Much of the surrounding terrain is downland and rough pasture with small woods and copses in the valleys and on the hillsides. The nearest villages are Steeple to the northwest, just over a mile away, and Kimmeridge, about a mile and a half to the east.Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 ''Landranger'' map series no. 195, 2015

References

{{Reflist Hills of Dorset