Mass grave of infants is present in British cemetery simply yards from unmarked website the place 300 our bodies have been found

A mass grave of babies has been uncovered in a British cemetery just a matter of yards away from where 300 bodies were discovered earlier this year.

The second unmarked grave was identified at Royton cemetery in the Greater Manchester area next to the graveyard’s chapel.

Oldham Council have confirmed its identification, whilst it remains unclear how many bodies the plot contains.

The discovery was made during a candlelit vigil that was held last Sunday, December 15, in memory of the children discovered in the first unmarked grave.

The uncovering of that first mass grave occurred in September, with 145 babies, 128 children and 29 adults remains found.

Records show that the first grave, named 1A-360, not only contains stillborn babies but also babies and children who died days, weeks, months and years after birth. Adults as old as 74 are also buried in the grave.

Local Councillor Maggie Hurley was approached by a vigil attendee on Sunday evening who informed her of the location of the second plot after she had traced the remains of a family member.

Speaking to LDRS, Councillor Hurley stated: ‘We’ve just found another one. This is a social injustice on a scale I never could have imagined’. 

A second unmarked mass grave has been discovered at Royton Cemetery in the Greater Manchester Area

Earlier this year, 300 bodies were uncovered in the same Manchester cemetery

An Oldham Council spokesperson noted that the communal site, known historically as the ‘pauper’s graves’ and more recently as the ‘local authority burials’, was known to the Council.

The Council is also providing support to affected families with a dedicated hotline established for people to ring. 

Both mass graves will be marked by the erection of memorial benches and plaques to commemorate those who are buried there, Royton Council have said. 

Following the discovery of the first plot, which was just 12ft by 12ft, local councillors stated their belief that it may not be the only one at Royton Cemetery.

It was common practice before the 1980s for stillborn babies to be taken away from parents without any further detail of where they were buried.

Bereaved parents were instead told by medical staff that their child was buried alongside a ‘nice person’ that same day. However, babies were often instead interred in mass graves.

Over the past 20 years, the mass graves of babies have been found across the UK.

Various mass graves for stillborn babies have been found in recent times in places such as the Wirral, Huddersfield, Lancashire, Devon and Middlesbrough.

Families had been gathered at Royton Cemetery for a candlelit vigil for those discovered in the first plot when the discovery of the second mass grave was made 

Locals left flowers at the site of the first unmarked grave in memory of the 300 people found

Both unmarked plots will be marked by the erection of memorial benches and plaques, the local council has confirmed

Earlier this year, the MailOnline exclusively revealed that a woman had discovered that her twin brothers had been buried in the first unmarked plot.

Sarah, whose name had been changed to protect her anonymity, had been attempting to find the burial site of her twin brother’s who died in 1962 when her search led her to uncover they had been buried in the cemetery minutes away from her home.

Speaking to the MailOnline, Sarah said: ‘I get upset speaking about it because my mother died and is buried in the same cemetery but she never knew they were there’.

For years Sarah had been attempting to find out what had happened to her brothers and described how the lack of any formal records led her to go on a ‘merry-go-round’.

However, after getting in touch with Gina Jacobs – a mother from The Wirral who found her child buried in Birkenhead 53 years after she was stillborn – she was able to access records not previously available online.

Reacting to finally finding her brothers, Sarah said: ‘I was elated… but I had no idea how emotional I would get and I burst into tears’.

The efforts to identify hundreds of other remains in the first unmarked grave continues, with other family members having contacted Gina Jacobs for help.