Landfill Check

Historic landfill sites in Tavistock, Devon

The Environment Agency records 20 historic landfill sites in and around Tavistock, Devon. covering roughly 32 hectares in total. The largest is Crowndale Landfill Site at 6.78 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.

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

All recorded sites, largest first

SiteAreaLast inputWaste types
Crowndale Landfill Site6.78 ha1992IndustrialHouseholdCommercial
Pitts Cleave Quarry5.8 ha1989IndustrialInert
Shillamill4.19 ha1991IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
King George's Field3.77 haHouseholdCommercialInert
Bowden Down1.42 haCommercial
Wreys Quarry, Stowford1.41 ha1990SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Horrabridge1.18 haWaste types not recorded
Drakewalls Mine1.16 haHouseholdCommercial
Greenlanes1.06 ha1982IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Higher Lake Farm0.96 ha1990IndustrialInert
Drakewalls Mine0.79 haIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
North Dimson0.64 haWaste types not recorded
Liddaton Green0.63 haWaste types not recorded
Tavistock Road, Bere Alston0.61 haWaste types not recorded
Stowford Quarry0.45 ha1992IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Former Sand Pit0.36 haWaste types not recorded
Hedge Cross Landfill0.26 haInert
Wheal Franco0.2 ha1992HouseholdInert
Peek Hill Quarry0.16 ha1982Waste types not recorded
Opposite Cloberrry House0.07 ha1982Waste types not recorded

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