Historic landfill sites in Downham Market, Norfolk
The Environment Agency records 20 historic landfill sites in and around Downham Market, Norfolk. covering roughly 61 hectares in total. The largest is Wissington Sugar Factory at 14.87 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Downham Market (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wissington Sugar Factory | 14.87 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Wereham Gravel Co Ltd - Crimplesham Gravel Pit | 9.22 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Crimplesham Gravel Pit | 8.79 ha | — | Inert |
| Anzac Pit | 7.88 ha | 1990 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Fincham | 4.06 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Sam's Cut Drain | 2.89 ha | 1978 | Inert |
| Wissington Sugar Factory | 1.94 ha | — | Industrial |
| Acacia Waste Ltd - Stoke Ferry Landfill North | 1.69 ha | — | Special |
| Stoke Ferry Landfill | 1.56 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| British Sugar - Wissington Sugar Factory | 1.51 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Lynn Road | 1.27 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Downham Market | 1.26 ha | 1974 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Stoke Ferry Landfill South (closed) | 1.18 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercial |
| Runcton Holme | 0.8 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| The Chalkpit | 0.62 ha | 1973 | Liquid / sludgeCommercial |
| Land East of Marham House | 0.57 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Site South of Fordham | 0.29 ha | 1972 | Commercial |
| Methwold Fens | 0.21 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| St Mary Magdalen | 0.21 ha | — | Inert |
| Gravel House Farm | 0.11 ha | 1973 | Commercial |
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 Downham Market?
- 20 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Downham Market 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 Downham Market?
- 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.