A memorial plaque has gone up in Oldham to commemorate the hundreds of babies buried in unmarked graves in the borough.
The plinth was installed in Royton Cemetery – exactly a year after a mass grave containing the bodies of 145 stillborn children, 128 babies and young kids and 29 adults was discovered there.
The discovery shook the local community, exposing the historic practice of removing stillborn babies from their parents and burying them in communal graves without their knowledge or consent.
The memorial plinth, made of rust-effect metal, has been placed next to a bench overlooking the largest unmarked grave in the cemetery.
An inscription reads: “A quiet Place. This memorial bench is by the side of one our unmarked graves. It is a place of quiet and reflection, to remember those laid to rest here.
“Some were stillborn babies, who we never got to know. Some were little children, who never got to grow. Some were full-grown adults, who knew not how to cope. Still, all those here are precious, deserving love and hope.”
The practice, common between the 1950s and 1980s, involved medical staff often removing stillborn babies from newly bereaved parents ‘without the opportunity to say goodbye’ or giving false information about how they would be buried. The babies would later be interred in unmarked communal graves,.
Relatives have shared harrowing stories of spending ‘decades’ searching for their lost loved ones, and the ‘shock’ of discovering the truth of where they lay.
Oldham Council Leader Arooj Shah said: ”We know that learning about these unmarked graves has been very distressing for the families affected, and it was wrong that there was no acknowledgement of the graves in our cemeteries.
“A memorial plinth has now been installed at Royton Cemetery, with more planned for our remaining cemeteries, to honour those who were laid to rest in these circumstances. We know this will not change what happened, but we hope it brings some peace and solace to the surviving relatives.”
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