The well established activated carbon manufacturing process has been investigated as a novel treatment for contaminated soil from gaswork sites by converting it into a porous carbonaceous solid with adsorbent properties. Several activation methodologies were evaluated: CO2, air, ZnCl2, H2SO4, H3PO4, FeSO4 and HNO3. Thermal analysis of the soil provided information regarding appropriate carbonisation and activation conditions. Bulk samples were prepared using contaminated soil samples, with ZnCl2 being found to be the most effective agent for the process, producing an adsorbent which possessed a BET surface area of 131 m(2) g(-1). The aqueous adsorption ability of the soil carbons was studied using phenol and 4-nitrophenol as representative micropollutant organic molecules. The Langmuir monolayer capacity of the ZnCl2-activated soil was found to be 0.12 mmg(-1) for phenol and 0.23 mmg(-1) for 4-nitrophenol.