Downs Quarry
IndustrialInert
Downs Quarry is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Swanage, Dorset. It received industrial and inert waste from 1977, covering about 3.72 hectares. Reference EAHLD08867, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD08867 |
|---|---|
| Site name | Downs Quarry |
| Address | Kingston Road, Langton Matravers, Swanage, Dorset |
| Site operator | Not recorded |
| Licence holder | Harden Brothers |
| Licence issued | 28 July 1977 |
| Licence surrendered | Not recorded |
| First waste input | 28 July 1977 |
| Last waste input | Not recorded |
| Area | 3.72 ha |
| Gas control | Not recorded |
| Leachate containment | Not recorded |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | South Wessex SW |
| Grid reference | 397900, 79000 |
Source: Environment Agency Historic Landfill Sites dataset, October 2025 revision.
Boundary map
What these waste types mean
- Industrial:
- factory and process waste. Contents vary widely — some benign, some not; the site's operator and era are the clues.
- Inert:
- builder's rubble, subsoil, concrete, brick. Doesn't decompose or generate gas; the lowest-concern category.
Other historic landfill sites nearby
- Gallows Gore QuarryIndustrialInert
- Gallow Gore Landers QuarryInert
- Acton Quarries No.1Inert
- Acton Quarries No.2Inert
- Acton Quarries No.3Inert
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.