Historic landfill sites in Swanage, Dorset
The Environment Agency records 9 historic landfill sites in and around Swanage, Dorset. covering roughly 21 hectares in total. The largest is Swanage Refuse Tip at 6.61 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to industrial waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Swanage (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swanage Refuse Tip | 6.61 ha | — | IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Gallow Gore Landers Quarry | 6.39 ha | 1994 | Inert |
| Downs Quarry | 3.72 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Gallows Gore Quarry | 2.1 ha | 1994 | IndustrialInert |
| Acton Quarries No.2 | 0.45 ha | 1992 | Inert |
| Suttles Quarry ( Swanage ) | 0.45 ha | — | IndustrialInert |
| Acton Quarries No.1 | 0.43 ha | 1991 | Inert |
| Southard Farm | 0.24 ha | — | Inert |
| Acton Quarries No.3 | 0.15 ha | 1993 | 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 Swanage?
- 9 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Swanage 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 Swanage?
- 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.