Barfs Quarry
SpecialIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Barfs Quarry is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Workington, Cumberland. It received special (hazardous), industrial, household, commercial and inert waste between 1982 and 1985, covering about 2.99 hectares. Reference EAHLD07898, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD07898 |
|---|---|
| Site name | Barfs Quarry |
| Address | Distington, Workington, Cumbria |
| Site operator | Not recorded |
| Licence holder | Cumbria County Council |
| Licence issued | 21 February 1979 |
| Licence surrendered | Not recorded |
| First waste input | 23 August 1982 |
| Last waste input | 14 December 1985 |
| Area | 2.99 ha |
| Gas control | Not recorded |
| Leachate containment | Not recorded |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | Northern NW |
| Grid reference | 300300, 523800 |
Source: Environment Agency Historic Landfill Sites dataset, October 2025 revision.
Boundary map
What these waste types mean
- Special:
- the licensing-era term for hazardous waste — asbestos, chemicals, oils. The category that most warrants a closer look.
- Industrial:
- factory and process waste. Contents vary widely — some benign, some not; the site's operator and era are the clues.
- Household:
- everyday domestic refuse. Decomposes and can generate landfill gas for a few decades after closure.
- Commercial:
- waste from shops and offices — paper, packaging, food. Similar profile to household waste, usually less of it.
- Inert:
- builder's rubble, subsoil, concrete, brick. Doesn't decompose or generate gas; the lowest-concern category.
Other historic landfill sites nearby
- Distington TipIndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
- Main RoadIndustrialInert
- Distington LandfillSpecial
- Walker Brow QuarryInert
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.