The Jacksdale Viaducts were built to cater for the arrival of the Great Northern Railway Line (Pinxton to Nottingham) and the opening of Jacksdale Railway Station (then known as 'Codnor Park and Selston Station') in 1875.  In the previous year James Oakes & Co had sunk their No. 1 downcast shaft at Pye Hill Colliery, Jacksdale and with increased coal production better communications would be needed. The viaducts were an imposing sight, a 21 arch  industrial 'barrier' in the form of a 30ft high railway embankment, connecting local collieries to the rail transport system. It would be interesting to know how many tonnes of coal were transported over the viaducts for the next 85 year until the closure of the line, by British Rail in the mid 1960s.

Following closure of the line, the viaducts fell swiftly into dereliction.  The embankment was neglected, wild and overgrown - an adventurous (and probably dangerous) path often used by schoolchildren as a play area or route to and from school. It stayed in this sorry state for nearly ten years, until investigations were begun in 1969 by Nottinghamshire County Council into the viability of its removal.  It was not until the Easter of 1974 that demolition work actually began by Ilkeston civil engineers 'Dyggor Gaylor' who resorted to the ball & chain method, as explosives could not be used in a residential area.  It took only days to reduce this feat of Victorian engineering and relic of the Industrial Revolution  to 90 thousand cubic metres of rubble which was then utilised for the nearby reclamation of 7 acres of marshland. Photo Left.  Sent to us by Dan Elliott now resident of Australia. The picture shows Danny and his best friend Maureen Riley with the railway arches in the background.  The building which can been seen under the right arch is the Launder's family cottage which was demolished along with the viaducts in 1974. The Jacksdale Community Centre now stands where the cottage used to be.

The road from Pye Hill to Selston Road		Demolition in Progress 1974