Iceland · Archaeological Heritage
Historic & Abandoned Places
Registered abandoned farms, ruins, shielings and historic church sites from Iceland's national archaeological survey — not every site here is abandoned, and not every site is currently open to visit.
Iceland was settled from the late 9th century onward, and centuries of farming, changing climate, and rural depopulation have left thousands of former farmsteads, outbuildings and seasonal herding sites recorded but unoccupied across the country. Minjastofnun Íslands, the national heritage agency, maintains an open archaeological survey of these locations. This collection presents a reviewed selection of that data with independently written, factual descriptions — and, where public access hasn't been verified, an honest note saying so rather than an invitation to visit.
Featured Historic Places

Historic Farmstead · West Iceland
Borg á Mýrum
Borg á Mýrum is a historic church and farm site in West Iceland, settled by Skalla-Grímur Kveldúlfsson and later home to his son, the saga poet Egill Skallagrímsson.
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Abandoned Farm · Westfjords
Hesteyri
Hesteyri is a deserted fishing village in the remote Jökulfirðir fjords of the northern Westfjords, abandoned in 1952 after decades as a trading post and later a herring-processing hub.
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Historic Farmstead · South Iceland
Hof í Öræfum
Hof í Öræfum is a cluster of farms in southeast Iceland beside Route 1, home to a turf church built in 1883 — the youngest turf church in the country.
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Abandoned Farm · East Iceland
Karlsskáli við Reyðarfjörð
Karlsskáli was a substantial farm on Reyðarfjörður in East Iceland that supported up to 50 people at its peak before being abandoned after a fire in 1961.
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Ruin · West Iceland
Sauðafell
Sauðafell is a protected farm mound in the Dalir region of West Iceland, linked in file records to the 1550 capture of Bishop Jón Arason.
ExploreAll 19 Historic Places

Historic Farmstead · North Iceland
Flugumýri
Flugumýri is a historic church and farm site in Skagafjörður, North Iceland, said in the Landnámabók to be named for a mare called Fluga owned by its first settler, Þórir dúfunef.
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Historic Church Site · West Iceland
Helgafell
Helgafell is a historic church and farm site on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, tied to the Laxdæla saga figure Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir, whose grave lies in the churchyard.
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Farm Outbuilding Ruin · South Iceland
Herdísarvík
Farm Outbuilding Ruin in South Iceland, Iceland — a registered archaeological site with 6 recorded features.
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Historic Farmstead · South Iceland
Hlíðarendi
Hlíðarendi is a historic farm and church site in Fljótshlíð, South Iceland, identified in the source material as the Njáls saga farm and home to an on-site memorial statue tied to the saga.
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Ruin · North Iceland
Hvammkot
Archaeological Ruin in North Iceland, Iceland — a registered archaeological site with 24 recorded features.
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Historic Church Site · Westfjords
Kirkjubólskirkja
Kirkjubólskirkja is a 19th-century timber church in Önundarfjörður, Westfjords, rebuilt in 1978 to match its original 1886 form.
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Historic Farmstead · Capital Region
Korpúlfsstaðir
Korpúlfsstaðir is a former dairy estate within Reykjavík built in the 1920s by businessman Thor Jensen and now used as artist studios.
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Historic Church Site · North Iceland
Miklibær
Miklibær is a historic church site and former parsonage in Blönduhlíð, Skagafjörður, first recorded in the Sturlunga Saga in 1234 and later the setting of a well-known 18th-century ghost legend.
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Historic Farmstead · North Iceland
Möðruvellir
Möðruvellir is a historic farm and church site in Hörgárdalur, North Iceland, continuously settled since the Age of Settlement and the birthplace of Iceland's first minister, Hannes Hafstein.
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Historic Church Site · North Iceland
Silfrastaðir
Silfrastaðir is a farm and church site in Skagafjörður, North Iceland, whose original 1842 turf church was later moved to Reykjavík's Árbæjarsafn open-air museum.
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Historic Church Site · South Iceland
Torfastaðakirkja
Torfastaðakirkja is a parish church in Árnessýsla, South Iceland, dedicated on New Year's Day 1893 before a crowd more than double the parish's population.
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Historic Church Site · South Iceland
Villingaholt
Villingaholt is a standing 1910–1911 timber church in the Flói farming district of South Iceland, in an area now part of Flóahreppur.
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Historic Church Site · West Iceland
Ytri-Rauðamelur
Ytri-Rauðamelur is a historic church site in West Iceland beneath a lava-rock edge, where four medieval copper cauldrons were unearthed nearby in 1959.
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Historic Farmstead · West Iceland
Þyrill
Þyrill is a historic farm beneath Mount Þyrill on Hvalfjörður in West Iceland, linked in Harðar saga og Hólmverja to the killing of the outlaw Hörður Grímkelsson.
ExploreBefore You Go
Responsible Exploration
- Many of these sites sit on private agricultural land — access is not guaranteed and should never be assumed.
- Do not climb on, enter, or move stones from any ruined structure.
- Do not remove artifacts. Several sites carry Iceland's highest legal protection tier (friðlýst).
- Where a page doesn't confirm a public trail or parking point, none should be assumed to exist.