Abandoned settlement swallowed by the forest - strange things left behind

Bored on Sunday I hiked deep into the forest in search of an abandoned settlement.
Only problem is it is DEEP in an overgrown forest.
I wasn’t prepared for what I found or how emotional it would be finding it.
I am still trying to find out who might have lived and farmed there but all I have been able to find out so far is it looks like it has been deserted since mid 1800s
After thinking about it more, I think the yellow tape will have been from forestry workers to protect to site.
It turns out it was a different (much easier to get to) site that was excavated 6 years ago, not this one. Which means that the items were likely left by the last residents. That really changes how I feel about them, and I am quite curious to go back and literally dig a little deeper!!
If I find out more I will update on Instagram ’outdoorsannie’
Bonus find of a wild camping spot as well!!
#exploring #abandoned #hiking #outdoors #ruins

[@bushcraftua1]

👍🥾⛰️. Nice nature 💚. Cool find

[@thepawanderer]

very cool

[@pipandbenji]

Love this! Great content. Old walls tell stories! I'm with you on leaving the bottle behind. Not just leave no trace, but you are leaving that piece of history where it belongs and hopefully will give the next explorer the same pleasure you got! ATB George

[@annieoutdoors]

It’s a funny one, but I just felt like it belonged there.

[@user-gk1lo6ni1b]

needs and wants are subjective, but i had to see this one, Annie you have a unique aura that glows around you, it's indescribable of colour but it is your spirit , and it burns bright, brighter than the surface of a sun , there will be a bottle pit along the edge of this ruin somewhere, if you see a concentration of nettle and elder that's often where they would throw any glass as there was no recycling then , the Phosphorus from any residue is perfect fertile feed for identifying the pit, there are beautiful old cobalt blue poison bottles in lots o thees'e 1700's to 1800's farm holding ruins, i have dug them my whole life,

[@annieoutdoors]

Lovely comment 🙏🏻 I suspect I’ll go back there, even though it was a nightmare to get to!! So I’ll look for the nettles!! There’s some more buildings quite close by that I found on an old map, so I’m keen to see what they are! I’m thinking they might be the house 🤞🏼

[@GivePeaceAChance1968]

Amazing adventure, brilliant ✌️

[@annieoutdoors]

✌🏻 Thank you ☺️

[@thewatchman6074]

Whenever I stand in places like this, I wish I had some kind of psychic ability to see it as it was, and to be able to visualise the people living their daily lives. I find these places fascinating. I just get the feeling that your location might have been something to do with the highland clearances

[@annieoutdoors]

Yeah I think you’re probably right, many small holdings seem to have been abandoned around the same time. There are quite a few more of them for me to investigate!! ….. if I can find a way through the forest!! I stood for ages off camera imagining the kids running about, the animals doing animal things and picturing when the buckets etc were sat down for the last time where they were left behind… it really gets me!!

[@hypo345]

Most homes out in the sticks would have had a midden, once something had served it’s purpose and couldn’t be repaired it would be thrown in the rubbish heap, these make interesting finds. I worked on a cricket pavilion once and had to replace the floor, in the earth below was a massive midden with lots of old glass bottles including a tiny Marmite bottle. Under the circumstances I decided to take a few and then boarded up the floor, some of the bottles have appeared in my photographic work in still life images. As a family when I was young in the 60’s and early seventies we visited Wales quite a bit and I loved it when we discovered some of the mining villages (mainly slate mines I think) that had been abandoned and trying to imagine life back then, so much simpler but for all working class people back then life must have been extremely hard.

[@annieoutdoors]

I would love to ‘dig up’ some things that have been left behind in order to better understand the story of those that lived there. It’s conflicting though for sure. Leave it as it is to be consumed back into nature or rediscover some memory of those that came before. I know I don’t have the right answer… There is something deeply intriguing and seductive about little pieces of someone’s history …. Kind of funny as well because what I find spellbinding now, they probably didn’t have any emotional attachment to!! Could be the equivalent of someone in the future finding one of my coffee mugs and treasuring it, even though I got it free with a tank of petrol 😅 Thank you for taking the time to comment ☺️

[@stevep6088]

Another lovely video. It reminds me of several places here in Wales - whole valleys that have become deserted as sheep farming has become less and less viable. Some were abandoned 150-200 years ago and some in the past few decades - but all are equally poignant. Keep up the good work😊

[@annieoutdoors]

Thank you, it’s really fascinating to find places that look untouched from the day they were left. Can’t help but wonder what the last day was like for them as they moved onto a different life…

[@daviemcf]

Very interesting video Annie. ❤like 77.

[@annieoutdoors]

Thank you so much ☺️

[@Prefer2Hibrn8]

I really enjoyed your video :D Your joy at what you had found shone through and you brought back that joy of discovery for me 😁. Thank you 🙏

[@annieoutdoors]

☺️

[@johntomson3812]

Annie,no subliminal messaging please,ive already subscribed 😂. Fascinating video. I stand among ruins and wonder what it was like in the past. Imagining the sounds,smells and people. But enough about my living room after a party. Seriously,totally got your excitement about that,kindred spirit. When i worked for a ground engineering company,i came across a perfect condition ceramic pot about a half metre down during teial pit excavations. An on site archaeologist told me it was roughly 120 years old. I still have it and just put loose change in it but i still wonder about the people who made it and held it in the past. I find it really magical.If only they could be brought back and see their pot in its present day place surrounded by all the modern day technology it would blow their mind.

[@annieoutdoors]

I just love glimpses into the past and pondering what life might have been like ☺️ there is something so magical about find things they have left behind! I suppose because so much is lost forever, especially from everyday ordinary people.

[@kristimcgowandarkoscellard3126]

I am curious about the age of the settlement you speak of because the lichen growth on the stones left of the wall suggests a great age for that wall. Many hundreds of years if not thousands. Lichen grows only in tiny millimeters every year. Some of those stones were covered in very thick lichen growth, this suggests a great age.

[@annieoutdoors]

Thats really interesting! I guess parts of the buildings could be older than others, common for places to be reused through the ages.

[@alantipple3684]

Great watch such a lovely place, afraid I would have taken the bottle did you manage to find out any more information about the place

[@annieoutdoors]

Quite a large part of me thinks I was being daft about the bottle 😅 I’ve really struggled to find out anything except I found one old map that listed it as ruins - around 1900, which I guess means it had to be empty for at least 20 or 30 years by then. And I did find out it hadn’t been excavated so I think the yellow caution tape was probably from forestry workers.

[@alantipple3684]

Bottle's can give you a good guide to the age by the way they are made I have found a few and have been able to date them keep the videos coming thank you

[@mark.kelley1928]

Vets bottle, buckets at a guess was for manly milking cows way back

[@annieoutdoors]

I reckon you’re probably right!

[@Grassmonster3]

I wonder if the buckets were used for milking.

[@annieoutdoors]

I bet you’re right!! That makes sense.

[@Hikingjoe383]

Snow other good one Anne

[@annieoutdoors]

Thank you ☺️

[@ericthearfaviking7579]

Cracking 👌

[@annieoutdoors]

☺️

[@billybobwombat2231]

👍🦘

[@mark.kelley1928]

Manually*

[@Prefer2Hibrn8]

i would leave the bottle there out of respect for those who have lived there in the past

[@annieoutdoors]

I do wonder what was in it!!? 🧐

[@wayout6092]

Is this a farm?

[@wayout6092]

Where would these people be buried or married?

[@annieoutdoors]

Part of a farm, I have still to battle my way through the undergrowth to the other part of it where I think the house might be! I tried to research who lived here but couldn’t find out much sadly. Many small holdings were abandoned around the same time, perhaps in relation to ‘clearances’ where they were removed to make way for larger estates (I’m not totally sure about this yet though).

[@Hy-Brasil]

Highland clearances sound like what the US government did to the indians. Don't you just love how they shove us all around like WE'RE the livestock?? And we always end upbl bumping against each other as a result.. i realized that as a kid while visiting Darian Georgia, which was a Scottish fort.... the black watch i think... Anyway the British occupiers wanted a buffer between them and the indians so that's who they put there. Only they didn't expect the natives and the Scotts to have so much in common. I wouldn't normally hesitate to keep something I'd found in abandoned places (obviously not on public land) but in some cases i would avoid it. Especially if you don't know the circumstances for its abandonment. You may end up bringing home a curse. Dead serious. Those of you who laugh have turned off your greatest instincts then wonder why you're plagued with bad luck.. There is another channel i follow called Unearthing the Supernatural where these native american men visit haunted tribal locations or national parks. But they're not your average ghost hunters. More like ghost therapy. Shanclen, who has his own channel, once said it's hugely disrespectful to these spirits to come crashing into their space, stir them up and then leave. Sometimes these are the spirits of people who need help but instead of doing that you just taint them and run away screaming. Imagine doing that to someone who was drowning and reaching out for your hand. So, in these places.... do walk lightly. I can see that you do have plenty of respect and praise you for it. My own homestead is pretty old by American standards.. we have whats left of a wagon wheel imbedded in the biggest hickory tree I've ever seen. I've found all sorts of bottles and trinkets, handmade iron bits, chains for plows and a few arrowheads. There was also an old washing machine, the kind with the wringers. You never know what you'll unearth after a rain. I always viewed it as gifts. The previous owners were not good people. Lots of abuse and deviant behavior if you care to imagine the worse. The owners before that weren't any better. The whole community knows my home by its reputation. And you can feel it when you come here. But after ten or more years it's like it's opening up and healing. It used to be a productive little farm until certain elements were introduced. Then it slowly began to rot. Even the woods oozed this sort of sad darkness. Going to a new place, or any new place, you're given a chance to prove who you are and your intentions. That's why i agree with you about the human footprint. We do leave a bigger and more lasting impression. The little things we do can alter lives without us ever knowing (that's why i don't like picking wild berries. I'm NOT starving. I have a farm that grows its own. Animals in nature have a small window to gather resources so they can survive another season. I have no right to steal their food) and even with my own fruit trees and bushes i don't take everything. God said to plant near the edges of your property and leave those trees and plants for the poor to glean. And that's what i do.... It doesn't matter how small your land is, if you take care of it, it'll take care of you. Even if you're only visiting. Introduce yourself like you would if you walked into a stranger's home. And yeah don't steal their stuff lol but if it's offered there's no harm. And it'll be easy to tell the difference.

[@annieoutdoors]

Thank you so so much for taking the time to write this. I appreciate you! Our farm was like a museum when I was a little kid, I only wish I had been a little older when my parents took the farm over (from my grandparents)… my parents were ruthless when modernising it and soooooo much was lost 😞 We do however still have the mangle (the clothes thing with the two rollers!), and a few other bits of old machinery like ploughs. Our house was older than 350 years. I try to place close attention to my gut and it said, curious little bottle, but you don’t need to own it, seeing it is enough. I did however once dig up, and keep, some quartz, but I promised to return it one day! I will be investigating more abandoned and forgotten places … I will announce myself appropriately on arrival 🙏🏻

[@3ForestAnimals]

hi from Idaho

[@annieoutdoors]

Hi 😁