Lulworth Military Range is a 7500 acre military firing range located between Wareham

Wareham, Dorset

Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole.-Situation and geography:...

 and Lulworth

Lulworth

Lulworth is the popular name for an area on the coast of Dorset, South West England notable for its castle and cove. However there is no actual place or feature called simply "Lulworth", the villages are East and West Lulworth and the coastal feature is Lulworth Cove.See:*East Lulworth *Lulworth...

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, England. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 and is part of the Armoured Fighting Vehicles Gunnery School.

The range is about 10 km (6 mi) west of Swanage

Swanage

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...

 and about 15 km (9 mi) east of Dorchester. Tanks and other Armoured vehicle

Armoured fighting vehicle

An armoured fighting vehicle is a combat vehicle, protected by strong armour and armed with weapons. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked....

s are used in this area and shells

Shell (projectile)

A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...

 are fired. Due to safety reasons, right of entry is only given when the army ranges are not in operation. Large red flags are flown and flashing warning lamps on Bindon Hill

Bindon Hill

Bindon Hill is an extensive Iron Age earthwork enclosing a coastal hill area near Lulworth Cove in Dorset, England.- Location :The Hill is located about 19 kilometres west of Swanage, about six kilometres south west of Wareham and about 17 kilometres south east of Dorchester.Bindon Hill is only...

 and St Alban's Head

St Alban's Head

St Alban's Head is located five kilometres southwest of Swanage, on the coast of Dorset, England.-Geology:The headland is an outcrop of Portland Stone from the overlying Lower Purbeck Stone...

 are lit when the range is in Military use. At such times the entrance gates are locked and wardens patrol the area.

The range lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

 and stretches along the coastline between the east of Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove

Lulworth Cove is a cove near the village of West Lulworth, on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset, southern England. The cove is one of the world's finest examples of such a landform, and is a tourist location with over 1 million visitors a year...

 to just west of Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge is a small village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast. Kimmeridge is about south of Wareham and about west of Swanage and is on the Isle of Purbeck...

. The coastline is part of the Jurassic Coast

Jurassic Coast

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....

, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

.

Access to the region is by foot either via the South West Coast Path

South West Coast Path

The South West Coast Path is Britain's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Since it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more...

 or from Lulworth Castle

Lulworth Castle

Lulworth Castle, in East Lulworth, Dorset, situated south of Wool, is an early 17th century mock castle. The stone building has now been re-built as a museum....

 and Tyneham

Tyneham

Tyneham is a ghost village in south Dorset, England, near Lulworth on the Isle of Purbeck. It remains a civil parish.-Location:The village is situated northeast of Worbarrow Bay on the Jurassic Coast, about south of Wareham and about west of Swanage. It is part of the Lulworth Estate. Tyneham is...

car parks. The range walks and coast path are open most weekends and some weekdays. Visitors are warned to keep to the footpaths. These are cleared of any unexploded ordnance between the yellow markers, but occasionally unexploded shells can be washed up onto the beach. These are dangerous and should not be touched or moved. Although many fossils can be found around this area, access for digging or cliff hammering is strictly forbidden.