Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Lewes, East Sussex

The Environment Agency records 33 historic landfill sites in and around Lewes, East Sussex. covering roughly 53 hectares in total. The largest is Malling Brooks A - Malling Industrial Estate at 14.37 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to industrial waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Malling Brooks A - Malling Industrial Estate14.37 ha—HouseholdInert
Southerham Grey Pit Landfill11.82 ha—Waste types not recorded
Ham Lane Extension - Southern Water5.33 ha1980IndustrialHouseholdInert
Malling Playing Fields4.57 ha1984Inert
Spences Lane - Malling Brooks3.19 ha1973HouseholdInert
Landport Recreation Ground2.55 ha1969IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Malling Hill Depot - Newpit Depot2.19 ha1991Waste types not recorded
Glyndebourne1.89 ha1993Inert
The Street - Footpath 81.16 ha1929IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Lower Lodge Farm0.52 ha1993Inert
Norlington Pond0.5 ha—Waste types not recorded
Lewes Race Course0.49 ha—Waste types not recorded
Hamsey Railway Cutting0.42 ha1974IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Ashcombe Roundabout0.25 ha1994Waste types not recorded
Knights Yard0.22 ha1956IndustrialInert
Chalkham Farm0.21 ha—Waste types not recorded
The Granary, Cinder Hill0.2 ha—Waste types not recorded
Former Village tip0.2 ha—Waste types not recorded
Field No.1 Northease Farm0.2 ha1990IndustrialHousehold
Malling Brooks Recreations ground0.2 ha—Waste types not recorded
5 Rushey Close0.2 ha—Waste types not recorded
Hewenstreet Farm0.2 ha1990Inert
The Brooks0.2 ha1991Inert
North of Deans Meadow - Bottom of Grantham Bank0.2 ha1939HouseholdCommercial
Southern Water Pumping Station, Balsdean0.2 ha1939HouseholdCommercial
Junction of Offham Road - The Avenue0.2 ha1939HouseholdCommercialInert
Mayhurst House0.19 ha1990Inert
Field No.2 Northease Farm0.15 ha1989IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Field No.3 Northease Farm0.15 ha1989IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Roundstone House0.14 ha1991Inert
Land North East of Folly Wood0.11 ha—Waste types not recorded
Between Paddock Lane and New Road0.08 ha1939Waste types not recorded
Barcombe Mills0.03 ha1981Inert

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 Lewes?
33 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Lewes 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 Lewes?
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.