Historic landfill sites in Penryn, Cornwall
The Environment Agency records 33 historic landfill sites in and around Penryn, Cornwall. covering roughly 75 hectares in total. The largest is Wheal Jane Tailings Dam - Clemos Valley Dam at 31.19 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Penryn (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheal Jane Tailings Dam - Clemos Valley Dam | 31.19 ha | — | Liquid / sludge |
| Herniss Farm Landfill | 5.69 ha | — | Special |
| Mabe Bypass | 4.13 ha | 1991 | IndustrialInert |
| Falmouth Refuse Tip | 3.97 ha | 1977 | SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercial |
| Higher Eathorne | 2.82 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Trolvis Quarry | 2.63 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Bissoe | 2.55 ha | 1980 | HouseholdCommercial |
| Carnon Valley | 2.42 ha | 1990 | Inert |
| Treliever | 2.4 ha | — | HouseholdCommercial |
| Adjacent Bissoe Bridge | 2.19 ha | 1999 | Waste types not recorded |
| Land At Hillhead | 1.77 ha | 1994 | Inert |
| Quenchwell | 1.67 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Bissom | 1.61 ha | 1990 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Carnon Valley | 1.44 ha | 1990 | Inert |
| Carnsew Quarry Landfill | 1.25 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Beacon Hill | 0.88 ha | 1994 | Inert |
| Trebarvah Road | 0.88 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Old Clay Pits | 0.79 ha | 1963 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Longdowns | 0.71 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Job's Water | 0.51 ha | 1991 | IndustrialInert |
| Pensanooth Depot - Cosawes Depot | 0.45 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Adjacent To Kernick Road | 0.44 ha | 1994 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Kea | 0.4 ha | 1990 | Inert |
| Fox's Boatyard | 0.39 ha | 1987 | Waste types not recorded |
| Tubbon Hill | 0.2 ha | 1990 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercial |
| Tresamble, Gwennap | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Kennall Vale | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Herniss Farm | 0.2 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Tin Pit Quarry, Mabe | 0.18 ha | 1990 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Treviades Manor Farm | 0.15 ha | 1990 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| St Gluvius | 0.15 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Landrivick Farm Manaccan | 0.09 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Job's Water | 0.04 ha | — | 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 Penryn?
- 33 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Penryn 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 Penryn?
- 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.