Babies and children among 300 bodies in mass grave

Oldham discovery made by woman looking for twin brothers

- BARNEY DAVIS

A mass grave containing more than 300 bodies has been uncovered in an Oldham cemetery.

The majority of the bodies belonged to stillborn babies and children and were found in a 12x12ft grave in Royton Cemetery in the Greater Manchester town.

Local councillors said they were discovered by a woman looking for her twin brothers who died in 1962, with one stillborn and the other dying within five hours of birth. Cllr Maggie Hurley said she was told to meet by the grave with a caretaker carrying a big gold ledger with the names of the deceased.

She has since found another four mass graves with hundreds more dead children. One in a Catholic area, another in a nonconformist area, and one in the Church of England section leaving the question how many other unnamed babies remain in unmarked graves across the country.

The unnamed woman looking for her brothers was told one of them was definitely in the first mass grave but “was not alone”. She is still looking for her other brother. She was told they were probably “top and tailed in the box” when they were buried in the 1960s.

Cllr Hurley told The Independent: “This is the biggest thing I have ever faced as a councillor. I’ve gone through every emotion from anger to hate – to absolute devastation. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. There was a ‘glitch in the system’ as to why the records hadn’t been put up online. Hearing about what happened to these people is just harrowing.