The poet Lord Byron's ancestral home, in central England, is under threat by plans to open a new coal mine half a mile underground, a survey says.

The proposal to mine coal under Newstead Abbey, where Byron lived and wrote as a young man, has caused outrage among local people in the county of Nottinghamshire. They fear the mine could cause serious damage to the buildings of the 800 year-old Abbey.

Ken Purslow, of the Newstead Abbey Byron society, says: "It is monstrous it can't be allowed to happen. This is a shrine to Byron. It's recognised throughout the world not only by Byron enthusiasts, but by local people, of course, that would be outraged if anything was allowed to happen to this Abbey."

800-years-old Abbey wall

The 300 acres of grounds of Newstead Abbey are rich in history. But underground lie 1.5m tons of coal which would provide badly needed jobs and extend the life of a local coal mine by two years.

The Newstead Abbey Byron Society says that even if mining does not cause Newstead Abbey to collapse, and it might, repairs may not adequately restore the fabric.

The Abbey and grounds are owned by Nottingham City Council and the BBC Midlands correspondent Emma Simpson says they face a dilemma over which side to take.

"On the one hand we're in an area that desperately needs mining jobs, that has seen the closure of many many pits. On the other hand we're responsible for this internationally renowned monument which could end up as a pile of rubble and there's no way we could let that happen," said Councillor Grahame Chapman, leader of Nottingham City Council.

Plans to mine under the Abbey

The company which owns the mine, Midlands Mining, insists that the Abbey's safety is a top priority.

"We will take all necessary precautions to ensure that no major damage is done to the Abbey at all and we are going to employ a set of experts that will guide us to make sure that we do not cause irreparable damage to the Abbey," said spokesman Jim Sorbie.

The British government is commissioning a study on the impact of the mine. This may decide whether Byron's country remains unchanged.
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