Oxfordshire landmark tumbles to dust

At 5 o’clock this morning, three of the landmark cooling towers of  Didcot Power Station came tumbling to Earth.

The moment the Didcot cooling towers began to crumble to the ground. Image courtesy of Glen Harfield

Despite the antisocial time, many spectators came to Wittenham Clumps, just outside Didcot to witness the moment. From the top of the Clumps, an unrivalled view of the towers was visible across the countryside and hundreds of  people had come out to view the spectacle. The diversity of the crowd – groups of young people, families and amateur photographers – gave the feel of a real community event. Some had pitched tents; others were armed with picnic hampers or long lensed cameras on tripods. A few even enjoyed glasses of champagne after the towers came down. 

The demolition was given the scheduled time of between 3 and 5am. People began to arrive at around midnight, and kept coming into the early hours of the morning.
Despite rumours of an air raid siren and a countdown to alert people to the imminent explosion, it occurred without warning to those on the Clumps, as the sun was rising over Oxfordshire. The controlled explosions brought down the structures in a matter of seconds. The towers first collapsed in on themselves, and were then reduced to a large dust cloud. It was followed by a rumbling explosion, heard a couple of moments after the explosion itself. Within a minute, it was all over.

The Oxfordshire sky-line, of which the silhouette of the Didcot power station chimneys had been so much a recognisable part, is now changed forever. 

Video link: http://vimeo.com/101831928 – Courtesy of Newbury Astro Society @newburyastro