Family’s horror over building on baby burial ground

Two sisters have told of their anguish after builders moved into an unholy burial ground to erect a wall on land where their stillborn baby brother was buried.

 

Eileen Tate and Patricia McDole were devastated when they discovered builders had moved onto a site at the side of the cemetery on Newry Road, Kilkeel.

Their brother died in 1969 just after he was born and was never baptised. He was buried along with many other babies in a ditch which ran alongside the cemetery. The family had been told they could not bury him in the church graveyard because he had not been baptised.

When Patricia drove by the site last Friday and saw the builders she was horrified. Eileen said: "Because he had not been baptised my father was told he could not be buried on church ground. So he had to dig a hole in the ground. He was not baptised and he was not pure as he had not seen the face of God. He was not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground so he had to be buried in a ditch surrounding the cemetery."

There is now a row of slabs and fencing on the ditch where the baby was buried.

Patricia said: "I called the guy over and said, do you realise there are babies buried here and he said 'No'. He said he had permission from Father Murray. So I contacted the undertakers and the police. I was just gutted - there were no words to explain. We used to go over to the ditch and put flowers on there with our mum. I just can't explain how I felt."

Father Edward McGhee, representing the diocese, said: "It is very upsetting. The priest was engaged in a project to build a containing wall around the outside of the cemetery in Masforth.

"He had taken assurances from the local undertaker that there were no burials in that section of the cemetery. The undertakers had no records. This baby was buried by the family themselves. There was no local knowledge. There were no records.

"I am quite happy to speak to the family to resolve this. It is important that the family can talk to Father Murray about the situation if they so wish."

 

Source - Belfast Telegraph

Posted Date: 27th Apr 2010