Residents of one UK town have spoken of their horror after a second unmarked mass grave containing the bodies of stillborn babies was uncovered at a cemetery. The new discovery at Royton cemetery in Oldham comes as campaigners continue to call for clarity over the resting places of their loved ones, who were often buried without families ever knowing where they were. Earlier this year, another grave with stillborn babies and young children was discovered in the eastern side of the cemetery.
The children's remains date to a 'horrific' practice in the mid-20th century which saw stillborn children removed from their parents without the chance to say goodbye and buried in communal plots without their parents' knowledge. A local councillor who is working with the families has described it as "social injustice on a scale I never could have imagined".
The first grave contains 145 babies, 128 children, and 29 adults. Now a second communal plot located at the northern wall, behind the cemetery chapel, has been confirmed by Oldham Council, though it is unclear how many bodies the plot contains. The grave was discovered during a candlelit vigil held at St. Paul’s Church, Royton, on Sunday to memorialise the children and give relatives a moment to reunite with their loved ones. A relative approached Councillor Maggie Hurley, who organised and funded the event, to inform her of the second plot, where they'd traced a family member. The group broke away to place candles and a wreath on the plot. Confirming she had been informed of a second site, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We've found another one. This is social injustice on a scale I never could have imagined.".
