The Village that Died for England, by Patrick Wright (Vintage, £8.99 in UK)

The "lost village" is Tyneham in Dorset, in Thomas Hardy country close to Lulworth Cove, which appears both in his novels and…

The "lost village" is Tyneham in Dorset, in Thomas Hardy country close to Lulworth Cove, which appears both in his novels and in those of J.C. Powys. Between the two world wars a tank and artillery range were established there, in spite of the protests of the local mayor and other citizens, and during the second World War Churchill ordered its civilian evacuation and conversion into a training centre for tank warfare. Decades later, the army is still there, and the village itself leads a curious ghost existence, a rallying-point both for dignified local protest and for cranks and earth-lovers of various kinds. During the Thirties Lllewellyn Powys lived locally with his American feminist wife, Alyse Gregory. and obtained special permission from the local squire to be buried in the Downs in the old crumpled-up posture of Stone Age burials. Altogether a strange story, in several senses, and one which seems likely to continue strangely.