To the south is the ridge above Gad Cliff that runs from the headland of Worbarrow Tout in the west to the knoll of Tyneham Cap (167 m; 548 ft) in the east.

Safety warnings about explosives and unexploded shells are posted at Mupe Bay by the MoD: visitors are advised to keep to official footpaths and observe local site notices because tanks and armoured vehicles are used in this area.

Proof of Roman occupation has also been found in the valley around Tyneham and there were salt-boiling, shale-turning and Purbeck Marble industries at Worbarrow Bay.

The village and 7,500 acres (30 km2) of surrounding heathland and chalk downland around the Purbeck Hills were requisitioned just before Christmas 1943 by the then War Office (now MoD) for use as firing ranges for training troops.

[9]This measure was supposed to be temporary for the duration of World War II, but in 1948 the Army placed a compulsory purchase order on the land and it has remained in use for military training ever since.

The church of St Mary, however, remains largely intact; it has a stained-glass window by Martin Travers and memorials to the Bond family, but the 17th century pulpit was moved to Lulworth Camp and the plate to Kimmeridge.

[16] Tyneham is featured in episode 5 of the first season of Life After People, "The Invaders", in which its existence as a settlement suddenly abandoned by its residents is examined.

[17] The history of the village is the premise for the novel, This Ruined Place (originally published for young adults as Juby's Rook) by Michael Lawrence (2023).