Historic landfill sites in Wareham, Dorset
The Environment Agency records 22 historic landfill sites in and around Wareham, Dorset. covering roughly 84 hectares in total. The largest is Field Near Hethfelton Hollow at 41.06 ha. Recorded waste ranges up to special (hazardous) waste. Data: October 2025 revision.
Recorded landfill boundaries around Wareham (indicative, digitised at 1:10,000).
All recorded sites, largest first
| Site | Area | Last input | Waste types |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field Near Hethfelton Hollow | 41.06 ha | 1993 | Liquid / sludgeInert |
| Fields At Rushton Farm | 13.2 ha | 1991 | Liquid / sludge |
| Duck Hill | 8.01 ha | 1983 | SpecialLiquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Field Near Stokeford Farm | 5.2 ha | 1984 | Liquid / sludge |
| Binnegar Quarry Area B1 | 4.31 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Breach Pit | 3.04 ha | 1991 | IndustrialCommercialInert |
| Gallows Hill Nature Reserve | 2.66 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| MOD | 2.13 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| Sandford Lane | 0.96 ha | — | Inert |
| Gallows Hill | 0.48 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialCommercialInert |
| Wytch Farm Well Site 2b | 0.45 ha | — | Liquid / sludge |
| Newburgh Farm | 0.37 ha | — | Waste types not recorded |
| White Pit | 0.37 ha | 1990 | Liquid / sludgeIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert |
| Squirrel Cottage, Ball Clay Pit | 0.2 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeInert |
| Fields East Of Trout Hill | 0.2 ha | 1991 | Liquid / sludge |
| Land at Hethfelton Farm | 0.2 ha | 1982 | Liquid / sludge |
| Fields 3529, 3417 and 4618 | 0.2 ha | 1984 | Liquid / sludge |
| Land at East Lulworth | 0.2 ha | 1993 | Liquid / sludgeInert |
| Furzey Ground Ball Clay Pit | 0.2 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeInert |
| Slepe Farm | 0.2 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercial |
| Green Pond | 0.2 ha | — | Inert |
| Pikes Farm SSL | 0.06 ha | — | Liquid / sludgeHouseholdCommercial |
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 Wareham?
- 22 historic (closed) landfill sites are recorded within about 15km of Wareham 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 Wareham?
- 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.