Babies and children among 300 bodies in mass grave

Sunflowers have been left on the ground at Royton Cemetery

A mass grave containing more than 300 bodies, including babies and children, has been uncovered.

An unmarked burial site at Royton Cemetery in Oldham contained 145 stillborn children, 128 babies and young children and 29 adults, local councillors said.

The discovery of the grave, which is about 12 ft (3.6m) by 12ft, was made by a woman from Royton while she was searching for the last resting place of her twin brothers, who died in 1962.

Councillors Maggie Hurley and Jade Hughes said it was a "heartbreaking revelation" and have called for a memorial to be built for all those buried there.

Councillors are calling for a memorial to those who have been buried in the unmarked mass grave at Royton Cemetery

The woman told councillors, who assisted in her search, that her parents had never been able to say goodbye to her twin brothers.

One of them had been stillborn and the other had died within five hours of birth, she said.

Before the 1980s, stillborn babies were taken away from families who were not given any details of what happened to their babies or where they were buried.

Medical staff would tell bereaved parents their children would be buried alongside "a nice person" who was being buried that same day – often without giving them the opportunity to say goodbye.

Instead, the babies were interred in mass graves.

In a statement released by the Royton Independents, councillors Ms Hurley and Ms Hughes wrote they had been "profoundly affected" by the "heartbreaking revelation" of the mass grave being found.

They have put forward a motion to Oldham Council to "recognise the injustice" that has taken place.

'Never forgotten'

The statement read: "How many babies are laying in Royton Cemetery in mass graves, their identities unknown to their grieving relatives?

"It’s a stark injustice that parents were denied the fundamental right to bury their babies, a right that should be inherent and unquestionable.

"This situation should stir our collective sense of fairness and empathy.

"We cannot change what has happened, but we can ensure that the babies born sleeping are named, recognised, and never forgotten."

A motion, due to be discussed at a council meeting on 11 September, has called for the council to erect a memorial to the buried children.

It also suggests records and documents about the burials should be made more accessible and digitalised.

The adults in the graves are presumed to be what are known as "pauper’s burials", for individuals whose families could not afford to pay for a grave.

The Royton grave's discovery follows another mass grave being found in Wirral earlier this year, where resident Gina Jacobs, 79, found her stillborn son after a 53-year search.

Over the past 20 years, mass graves containing the remains of stillborn babies have been discovered in Lancashire, Devon, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield.

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