Historic landfill sites in Shildon, County Durham
The Environment Agency records 20 historic landfill sites in and around Shildon, County Durham. covering roughly 76 hectares in total. The largest is Holme House Quarry at 20.71 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Shildon (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holme House Quarry | 20.71 ha | 1993 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialCommercialInert |
| Eldon Hill Quarry | 19.67 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeIndustrial |
| Sunnydale Waste Disposal Site | 8 ha | 1983 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Old Eldon Quarry | 6.16 ha | 1993 | SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Tarmac Bricks and Tiles | 6.04 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Black Boy Tip | 5.76 ha | — | Commercial |
| Summerhouse Waste Disposal Sit | 2.64 ha | 1983 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Middridge Quarry | 1.79 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Thickley Quarry | 1.43 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Summerhouse Tip | 0.66 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialCommercialInert |
| Highside Waste Disposal Site | 0.65 ha | 1978 | IndustrialHouseholdCommercial |
| High Side Tip | 0.65 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Old Quarry Coundon | 0.55 ha | 1988 | Inert |
| Redworth Fields | 0.31 ha | 1983 | Inert |
| Area A Piercebridge | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| New Shildon Mines | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Guerney Valley Area D | 0.2 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Shildon Tunnel | 0.19 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Redworth Fields | 0.15 ha | 1983 | Inert |
| Redworth Fields | 0.06 ha | 1983 | 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 Shildon?
- 20 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Shildon 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 Shildon?
- 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.