14-07-25, 08:45
|
#20
|
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 50,563
Thanks: 28,767
Thanked 14,428 Times in 10,234 Posts
|
TUAM: Dig Begins at Site in Ireland That Holds Remains of Nearly 800 Infants
TUAM: Dig Begins at Site in Ireland Believed to Hold Remains of Nearly 800 Infants
Archaeologists, anthropologists and forensic experts aim to identify infants buried at former mother and baby home in Tuam
The Guardian 14 JUL 2025
There were no burial records at the Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam, but a local historian uncovered death certificates for 796 infants
A century after Irish nuns first began to bury hundreds of infants in what would become a mass, unmarked grave, archaeologists and other specialists will start excavating the site in Tuam, County Galway.
A mechanical digger is to slowly start scraping earth on Monday at the 5,000sq metre 53,820 sq ft site where the Bon Secours order is believed have interred 796 infants who died at the St Marys mother and baby home between 1925 and 1961.
The operation, which is expected to last two years, marks a new stage in Irelands reckoning with the abuse and neglect of children in religious and state run institutions, especially those who bore the stigma of being born out of wedlock. Their treatment has been called a stain on the nations conscience.
At St Marys in Tuam, a so called mother and baby home where young women and girls were sent to give birth, some infants were buried in a disused subterranean septic tank.
There were no burial records and the deaths were ignored until a decade ago when Catherine Corless, a local historian, uncovered death certificates for 796 infants. This led to a judicial commission, a state apology and a promise to excavate the site.
Im very, very relieved to know its happening at last, said Corless. It was a very long haul. Its a bit overwhelming. Ive been so long waiting for it. Its a joy for me and for the families that are waiting in hope that they will find their own little relative
Much of the excavation site which is in the middle of a housing estate has been sealed off and the office of the director for authorised intervention in Tuam Odait group has done preparatory work.
Daniel MacSweeney
The 18 strong team, which includes archaeologists, anthropologists and other forensic experts from Ireland, the UK, Australia, Colombia, Spain and the US, is led by Daniel MacSweeney, a former International Committee of the Red Cross envoy.
The operation aims to recover all the human remains, attempt to identify them, return them to their families and rebury them with dignity. The size and location of the site, water filtration and the co mingling of remains, plus the proximity of other remains from the 19th century famine and workhouse eras, made the operation highly complex, said MacSweeney
Our team includes people with expertise in crime scene management. The legislation requires us to call the coroner or the Garda? police if we find evidence of unnatural death.
The Tuam home closed in 1961 and was demolished a housing estate was built on the site.
In 1975 two boys foraging for apples stumbled across human bones in the abandoned septic tank. Authorities took no action until Corless, a former textile factory secretary with an interest in local history, published research that was picked up by local and then national and international media in 2014.
The actor Liam Neeson is co producing a feature film that is to begin filming in Galway later this year
Catherine Corless
|
|
|