Tuam researcher aids in discovery of mass grave at Scottish orphanage

By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

LOCAL historian Catherine Corless has contributed to research which has led to the discovery of 400 skeletal remains in a mass grave in Scotland.

A radio documentary on BBC this week revealed that 400 skeletal remains discovered in a mass grave in Lanark in Southern Scotland had been named – thanks to the help of Tuam researcher, Catherine Corless, who carried out similar work on collating death certs for almost 800 babies and infants in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. In March the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes confirmed that a significant number of baby and infant remains were discovered during their excavation works at the memorial garden site on Dublin Road in Tuam. However, it's still unknown how many “significant” is and whether the number is close to the 796 recorded deaths at the home for which Catherine Corless couldn't locate any burial records for.
The discovery of the Scottish mass grave was made in 2003 by two former residents of the Smyllum Park Orphanage in Lanark, which closed in 1981 and campaigners have since tried to establish how many exactly were buried there and their identities.
Thanks to the experience of Catherine Corless, the BBC documentary researchers contacted her and she was able to steer them in the right direction on how to secure death and burial certs.

Read the full story in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald