THE chapel in the cemetery in Nottinghamshire where the parents of the author and poet D. H. Lawrence are buried was reduced to little more than a shell by a severe fire last week.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said that three fire engines, a Command Support Vehicle, and a Welfare Unit were sent to Eastwood Cemetery Chapel after the fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The cause of the blaze is not yet known. A spokesman for the fire service said that the incident had now been handed over to the police ,and that further investigations were taking place. The chapel, which is privately owned, has now been sealed off with fencing while its future is decided.

"There will be a full investigation into the cause of the fire, but until that investigation is complete we cannot speculate on what started the blaze," the leader of Broxtowe Borough Council, Councillor Milan Radulovic, said. "Sadly, the building is seriously affected, but fortunately, no individuals were involved, and the surrounding site and graves are intact.

"I am extremely upset to seethis historic building so badly damaged and the council will look carefully into the possibility of saving the building, or whether it will be forced to demolish the chapel."