Excavation work is currently happening at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home site in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland. This confirms long-standing suspicions about a mass grave holding the remains of almost 800 babies and young children. This major effort comes after years of careful research by local historian Catherine Corless, whose early discoveries were met with doubt and even outright rejection by some.
Corless, who some have called an “amateur historian,” carefully studied death certificates and church records related to the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home. This was a place where unmarried mothers were sent, and it operated from 1925 to 1961. Her detailed research, as found by People, published in May 2014, showed that 796 children had died there during those years.
