Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Knottingley

The Environment Agency records 38 historic landfill sites in and around Knottingley. covering roughly 260 hectares in total. The largest is Gale Common at 78.43 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

Recorded landfill boundaries around Knottingley (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Gale Common78.43 ha1994Liquid / sludgeIndustrialInert
Brotherton Ings Ash Disposal Site50.12 ha—Waste types not recorded
Darrington Quarries13.86 ha1993IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Darrington Quarry10.33 ha1992IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Darrington Quarries9.05 ha—Waste types not recorded
Sherburn Quarry II8.62 ha1987Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Gravel Hill Lane8.41 ha1990IndustrialInert
DARRINGTON NORTH LANDFILL7.57 ha—Waste types not recorded
Thorne Tree Flatts Quarry7.2 ha1971Waste types not recorded
Jackson's Quarry6.61 ha1993SpecialIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Kellingley Colliery5.76 ha1986SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Monk Fryston Quarry4.97 ha1997IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Darrington Quarries4.78 ha—Waste types not recorded
Quarry4.66 ha—IndustrialHousehold
Sand Quarry4.65 ha1974IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Darrington Quarries (North)4.32 ha1992IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Middle Lane3.4 ha1983Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Darrington Quarries3.32 ha—Waste types not recorded
Watergarth Quarry3.31 ha1992IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Sand Quarry2.03 ha—Industrial
Smeaton Limeworks2.02 ha1992IndustrialInert
Landfill Site1.98 ha—Waste types not recorded
Sand Quarry1.92 ha1974IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Nr Coppering Kilns1.87 ha—Commercial
Darrington Quarries1.86 ha—IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
England Lane1.74 ha—Inert
Tar Distillers Quarry1.53 ha1990Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Stapleton Landfill1.52 ha1979IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Land Adjacent to Doveroyd Farm0.91 ha1993CommercialInert
Lunnsfield Quarry0.58 ha1980Commercial
Adjacent to Dowlant Crescent0.45 ha—Commercial
Fairfield Quarry0.42 ha1994IndustrialInert
Downland Crescent0.4 ha1988IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Quarry off Downland Crescent0.33 ha1988CommercialInert
Land adjacent to Hodgewood Farm0.31 ha1993CommercialInert
Mile Gap Quarry0.29 ha—HouseholdCommercial
Churchfield Lane0.19 ha1985Household
Little Smeaton Quarry0.16 ha—Waste types not recorded

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 Knottingley?
38 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Knottingley 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 Knottingley?
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.