Historic landfill sites in Rothbury, Northumberland
The Environment Agency records 21 historic landfill sites in and around Rothbury, Northumberland. covering roughly 12 hectares in total. The largest is Tosson Quarry Disused at 2.48 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to liquid/sludge waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Rothbury (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tosson Quarry Disused | 2.48 ha | 1988 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Disused Quarry East of Lorbotle Weststeads | 2.01 ha | 1978 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Fontburn Reservoir | 1.82 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercial |
| Disused Quarry North of Sheepfold | 1.53 ha | 1974 | HouseholdCommercial |
| Wards Hill | 0.62 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Todburn | 0.36 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Burradon | 0.25 ha | — | Commercial |
| Mote Hill | 0.24 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercial |
| Framhill | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Sunnyside | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Harbottle | 0.2 ha | 1960 | HouseholdCommercial |
| How Moor | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Westerheugh | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Whitton Burn | 0.2 ha | 1960 | HouseholdCommercial |
| Hollings Hill | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Masons Shed | 0.2 ha | 1965 | Waste types not recorded |
| Leeburn | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Glanton | 0.2 ha | — | HouseholdCommercial |
| Newton Farm Harbottle | 0.15 ha | 1983 | Inert |
| Whittingham Lane Quarry | 0.15 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Burradon No.1 | 0.14 ha | — | HouseholdCommercialInert |
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 Rothbury?
- 21 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Rothbury 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 Rothbury?
- 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.