They were the images that defined the miners’ strike. In June 1984, police and striking pit workers clashed in violent scenes at Orgreave in South Yorkshire.

More than 40 years later, the site of the coking plant where bloodied miners were filmed by news crews is barely recognisable.

The land is now the private Waverley housing development, and the near-identical, modern properties, large cars on the driveways and outdoor Christmas decorations can be said to be a symbol of how a way of life has vanished since the 1980s.

Days no longer begin with hundreds of men heading to work at the major local employer – the pit and adjacent coking ovens. Both had closed by 1990, and residents of today’s estate are commuters or home workers.

What was once a hive of industry has been transformed into a new community which will eventually have thousands of homes as well as offices, schools and retail space, while new jobs are provided by the Advanced Manufacturing Park, home to Rolls Royce, Boeing and McLaren Automotive.

The landowner is Harworth Group, formerly the property arm of UK Coal, and now a major developer of brownfield sites, including old collieries.

Yet those with deep-rooted connections to mining believe the industry’s heritage has been overlooked during the regeneration work and have questioned whether “community” can truly be achieved without the unity that resulted from thousands of families working and living alongside each other.