Molescombe Quarry
IndustrialHouseholdCommercialInert
Molescombe Quarry is a historic (closed) landfill site recorded by the Environment Agency near Salcombe, Devon. It received industrial, household, commercial and inert waste between 1952 and 1994, covering about 4.36 hectares. Reference EAHLD08706, October 2025 data revision.
Full record
| EA reference | EAHLD08706 |
|---|---|
| Site name | Molescombe Quarry |
| Address | Chillington, Frogmore, Kingsbridge, Devon |
| Site operator | Devon County Council |
| Licence holder | Devon County Council |
| Licence issued | 5 September 1977 |
| Licence surrendered | Not recorded |
| First waste input | 1 January 1952 |
| Last waste input | 19 August 1994 |
| Area | 4.36 ha |
| Gas control | Yes |
| Leachate containment | Not recorded |
| Licensed site | Yes |
| EA area | Devon SW |
| Grid reference | 278200, 42100 |
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.
- 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
- Winslade QuarryIndustrialInert
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.