Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Launceston, Cornwall

The Environment Agency records 23 historic landfill sites in and around Launceston, Cornwall. covering roughly 22 hectares in total. The largest is Bangor Quarry at 2.51 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to liquid/sludge waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Bangor Quarry2.51 ha1993Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Bangor Slate Quarry2.44 haCommercial
Smallcombe Farm1.75 ha1992Inert
East Banbury1.73 ha1992Inert
Yeolmbridge Quarry1.59 ha1990IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Yeat Farm1.56 ha1992Inert
Wooladon Farm, Liftondown1.34 ha1992Inert
Pennygillam Industrial Estate1.33 ha1994Inert
Cookworthy Farm1.27 ha1992Inert
Gadcombe Cross0.97 ha1990Inert
Tresmeer Railway Cutting Landfill0.9 haIndustrialInert
Dingley Downs Quarry0.76 haIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Laneast0.75 haWaste types not recorded
Wortham Manor Farm0.69 ha1992Inert
Hollyvag Landfill0.55 haIndustrialInert
Red Down Quarry0.4 ha1990IndustrialInert
Pillar Quarry0.33 ha1970IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Lanzion Railway Cutting0.32 haInert
Treniffle0.3 haWaste types not recorded
Old Wit Farm0.3 ha1970Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Old Quarry, Lawhitton0.2 haWaste types not recorded
Litton Golf Course0.13 haHousehold
Near Wortham Manor0.08 ha1994Household

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 Launceston?
23 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Launceston 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 Launceston?
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.