IT took only three seconds and two big bangs for nearly a century of history to be removed from the Notts skyline.
As the iconic headstocks at Welbeck Colliery tumbled to the ground yesterday, it marked the end of a 99-year chapter in the history of the mining community of Meden Vale.
For the hundreds of people, young and old, who gathered to watch the demolition, it was a moment that will live long in the memory.
None more so than for 66-year-old Jennifer Hancock, whose grandfather, Harold Fearn, helped to build the two headstocks before the mine opened in 1912.
Her father, Samuel Fearn, and uncle, also called Harold, both worked at the pit.
Mrs Hancock, who grew up in Meden Vale but now lives on the Welbeck Estate, said: "I can remember the smell of the headstocks when they were steam-powered. When we were little, my brother and I used to go up in the headstocks and watch them working. It was in the days before health and safety.
"It's a very poignant day for us. I'm feeling very sad, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
"My father would have been heartbroken to see this though – this place was his life."
Mrs Hancock watched the demolition with her family, including granddaughter, Sophie Owen.
The nine-year-old was among pupils from Eastlands Junior School in the village who attended the historic day.
She said: "I feel a bit sad that they are going and a bit nervous as I do not know what is going to happen. I will remember this day."
The first headstock to fall was 'number two', which transported miners and machinery underground.
It was quickly followed by the 'number one' headgear, which brought coal to the surface.
Former Welbeck Colliery miner Wayne Morris, 45, of Meden Vale, watched the structures fall alongside a group of his former colleagues.
He said: "The mine was our life, and part of the community has gone now.
"To see the mine in the state that it is in today is sad. It's not just the colliery closing, it has affected village life, full stop."
Mr Morris left the mine following it's closure in May last year.
He found work in the roofing trade but has since been made redundant.
He was not the only former worker at the colliery facing uncertainty.
Brothers John and Tim Bull, both of Nether Langwith, near Mansfield, are looking for work after 26 years as engineers at Welbeck.
They were among the first former workers allowed back on the pit site to survey the wreckage.
John, 58, said: "We were both fabricators and welders and we used to go underground putting in the conveyors to take coal from the coal face. Our last job was to actually fit the conveyors that filled in the shafts after the pit closed."
Tim, 51, added: "When we left school there were plenty of engineering jobs. Every village around here had a mine."
Contractors Ron Hull Demolition began clearing the site in November last year.
It used 150kg of gelignite to bring down the headstocks.
The company has also demolished the coal preparation plan, bunkers, and various ancillary buildings and workshops on the site over the last six months.
Steven Raisbeck, demolition manager, said workers would be on site until the end of May clearing up the rubble.
He said: "The mine is going to be sadly missed by the people who live and worked in and around here. We hope that something good will come of it which will benefit the community in the future."
The colliery site is owned by UK Coal and Welbeck Estates.
A UK Coal spokesman said the company's property business, Harworth Estates, was in the process of drawing up a plan for the future of the land.
It met with residents in November. The spokesman said: "Harworth Estates, together with local community groups, are trying to bring forward commercial uses for the site to create jobs and bring benefit to Meden Vale."
In its heyday, Welbeck employed around 1,400 miners and enjoyed an annual output of around 1.5 million tonnes.
In its last six weeks it produced 360,000 tonnes.
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