How many former landfill sites are there in Rye?

20 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Rye 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 Rye?

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.

Historic landfill sites in Rye, East Sussex

Name: EA Historic Landfill Sites
Creator: Environment Agency
License: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environment-agency-conditional-licence/environment-agency-conditional-licence

The Environment Agency records 20 historic landfill sites in and around Rye, East Sussex. covering roughly 26 hectares in total. The largest is Quarry Field South at 8.13 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

Site	Area	Last input	Waste types
Quarry Field South	8.13 ha	1976	SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Camberfield	6.18 ha	1980	IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Castle Farm	2.51 ha	—	Waste types not recorded
Wittersham Road	2.02 ha	1992	HouseholdInert
Castle Farm	1.67 ha	—	Liquid / sludge
Peartree Marsh	1.48 ha	1963	SpecialHouseholdCommercial
Point Farm	0.87 ha	1991	Waste types not recorded
Broomhill Farm	0.38 ha	1984	HouseholdCommercial
North West of Rye Oil	0.2 ha	1983	SpecialLiquid / sludge
Rye Harbour Watermill	0.2 ha	1974	Waste types not recorded
Rye Harbour Pit	0.2 ha	1979	Inert
Land North of Spun Concrete	0.2 ha	1974	Waste types not recorded
Rye Nature Reserve	0.2 ha	1974	Waste types not recorded
North of Harbour Road	0.2 ha	1987	Inert
19 Marsham Brook	0.2 ha	1992	Inert
Newhouse Farm	0.2 ha	1993	Inert
Broomhill Car Park	0.2 ha	1967	HouseholdCommercial
Prince's Cross	0.2 ha	1984	Inert
Gatehurst Farm	0.2 ha	1991	IndustrialInert
North of Rye Road (A268)	0.2 ha	1992	Inert

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 Rye?: 20 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Rye 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 Rye?: 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.