Historic landfill sites in Dorking, Surrey
The Environment Agency records 10 historic landfill sites in and around Dorking, Surrey. covering roughly 119 hectares in total. The largest is South Holmwood Brickworks at 46.45 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Dorking (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Holmwood Brickworks | 46.45 ha | — | Inert |
| North Holmwood | 25.83 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Reigate Road Sandpit | 16.45 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| North Holmwood Brickworks | 11.39 ha | — | Inert |
| Ranmore Road CA Site | 4.68 ha | 1980 | HouseholdCommercial |
| Land at Shellwood Manor Farm | 4.29 ha | 1995 | SpecialIndustrial |
| Old Kiln Lane | 4.13 ha | 1990 | HouseholdCommercialInert |
| Barley Mow Tip | 3.78 ha | 1986 | SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialInert |
| Three Acre Field | 1 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Gomshall Tannery | 0.83 ha | 1988 | SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialInert |
What this data does — and doesn't — cover
- Licensed-era records only. Waste licensing began in 1974. Older tips — especially small pre-war ones — are incompletely recorded, so absence from this data does not mean no landfill ever existed here.
- Not the contaminated-land register. Councils hold a separate register of land determined as contaminated. A historic landfill entry is not a contamination determination, and vice versa.
- Boundaries are indicative. Digitised at 1:10,000 scale; some are buffers around a point rather than surveyed edges.
- Not a substitute for a formal environmental search. If you're buying, your conveyancer's environmental search checks this and several other sources.
EA Historic Landfill dataset, October 2025 revision. More on the methodology page.
Common questions
- How many former landfill sites are there in Dorking?
- 10 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Dorking town centre in the Environment Agency's Historic Landfill dataset (October 2025 revision). Pre-1974 sites are incompletely recorded, so the true historical number is likely higher.
- How do I check a specific address in Dorking?
- Search the postcode on Landfill Check — you'll see every recorded site within 1km, with distance, direction and waste types, measured to the site boundary.
Nearby areas
Worth reading: buying a house near a former landfill and what the waste types mean.