35 Mysterious Abandoned Places Around the World You Can Still Visit

23. Hallsands, England: The Village That Fell into the Sea

Hallsands was once a thriving coastal village perched on the cliffs of Devon, England, its cottages nestled against the sea and home to a small but tight-knit fishing community. In the late 19th century, the British government approved extensive dredging nearby to extract shingle for the expansion of the naval dockyard at Plymouth. While profitable at first, this seemingly innocuous decision disrupted the delicate coastal balance. Without the natural shingle barrier, the sea crept closer with each tide. Despite residents’ warnings, little action was taken until disaster struck. On January 26, 1917, a violent storm coincided with high tide and swept away much of the village in a single night. Miraculously, no lives were lost—but most homes were reduced to rubble. Today, only the ruins of a few stone buildings remain, teetering on the edge of the cliffs. Hallsands now serves as a cautionary tale of environmental mismanagement, where short-term industrial gains came at the cost of an entire community.