A heartbroken pensioner believes her son’s grave will be disturbed by ongoing construction work at a Belfast cemetery.
Collette Walsh’s son died just minutes after being born in 1969 and was buried in unconsecrated ground on the edge of Milltown Cemetery.
Colette has never been told the exact location of her son’s final resting place, but is certain it is in the area where a new pathway is being built in the graveyard.
The Catholic Church’s Diocese of Down and Connor, which is in charge of Milltown Cemetery, say the work at the lower end of the graveyard is also needed to upgrade the drainage system in the cemetery.
The diocese claim tests have been carried out to ensure the work does not disturb any unmarked graves.
However, relatives who believe their loved ones are buried in this area of the cemetery have called for the work to be stopped.
“This work will definitely disturb graves,” said Collette.
“I have been told they are putting a pathway right through the graveyard right down to where the baby plot is, but it’s not right if it’s going to disturb graves.
“When I first saw the work at the graveyard it broke my heart.”
Collette’s son, who she called William, died shortly after he was born in 1969.
Her ex-husband agreed for the baby’s body to be handed over and kept at the Royal Victoria Hospital for tests to examine the complications which led to his death.
Many years later, Collette, who had already suffered five miscarriages before losing William, received a small box from the hospital containing some of her son’s body parts, but was not told what had happened the rest of his remains.
It was only later she found out he had been buried in an unmarked grave in Milltown.
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Records show her son was buried in a plot with five other children and two adults.
However, the exact spot of their final resting place remains unknown but Collette has been told it is on unconsecrated ground at the lower end of the cemetery, known as the Bog Meadows.
Unconsecrated ground was land not blessed by the church and it was traditionally used to bury stillborn babies because they had not been christened.
Others buried in unconsecrated ground included people who had taken their own lives.
Collette said she and other relatives have been campaigning for a memorial or all those buried in unmarked graves in the Bog Meadows.
“The work that happening there at the minute should be stopped and there should be some kind of memorial garden created for all those buried down there,” she said this week.
Milltown cemetery is managed on behalf of the Down and Connor diocese by a board of trustees.
Around six acres of land at the lower end of the graveyard was sold to the Ulster Wildlife Trust (UWT) in 2000, but reclaimed nine years later after it emerged there were unmarked burial plots on the site.
The then Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor publicly apologised for the land having been sold.
It has been claimed that up to 11,000 people could be buried without recognition in the lower section of the cemetery.
When contacted recently by the Sunday World in connection with the construction work, Fr Eddie McGee, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Down and Connor, said the work included the upgrading of pathways and the drainage system.
“Before commencing this essential upgrading of drainage and pathways, it was necessary for the trustees to establish if this area of the cemetery had previously been used for burials including baby burials,” said Fr McGee.
“In November 2023, the trustees therefore secured the professional services of Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd to investigate this section of the cemetery.
“Having obtained a licence from the Department for Communities (DfC), a number of test excavations were undertaken to provide clarity on the location and extent of unmarked and unlocated burials within this greenfield area of the cemetery.
“DfC confirmed on 3rd April 2024 that all of the Historic Environment Division’s conditions associated with the licence had been met.”
Fr McGee said the archaeological investigation was carried out between November 2023 and February 2024 and its results were compiled in a report available on the diocesan website.
“Informed by these investigations to identify and clearly define the location of all burial sites, including baby burials, within this section of the cemetery, the diocese can therefore provide the assurance that these necessary works will be undertaken with the complete confidence that they will not be located in proximity to or affect known burial sites,” added Fr McGee.