VaughanJB
Scrappy VIP
Sorry to post about something so gruesome and frankly, sad. You know, we read about practices from hundreds of years ago and sometimes lower our heads in shame - but this! 1980 doesn't seem so distant to me, and the very fact it was all built on lies which will now no doubt resurface suffering for others, it's truly tragic.
SOURCE: Royton Cemetery mass grave: Babies and children among 300 bodies found
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.
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.
SOURCE: Royton Cemetery mass grave: Babies and children among 300 bodies found
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.
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.
