Memorial for infant graves found under compost

A memorial to honour babies and infants whose graves have been discovered near a North Yorkshire church has been planned.

The unmarked graves date back to the 19th Century and were found under a compost heap, in a corner of the Settle Parish Church of the Holy Ascension's graveyard.

Historian Sarah Lister made the discovery while taking part in a project to document the lives of people buried in the church's graveyard since 1839.

Ms Lister said the memorial would be a place of reflection for anyone affected by child loss, as well as a way of "sharing a little slice of history".

Ms Lister started work on the Settle Graveyard Project in 2018, 108 years after the church was built.

It was through the church archive that the infant gravesite was discovered beneath a storage area for garden waste.

The children were buried between 1840 and 1850, and Ms Lister believes that they were placed in unmarked graves because their parents, many of whom were poor, had not bought a family plot yet.

The exact number of children buried in the plot is unknown, as documents suggest the gravedigger at the time was illiterate and therefore could not record each burial accurately.

The project was initially a way of preserving the names on eroding gravestones, but she was also able to use Holy Ascension's records to find out more about the people who had been buried there.

"We often call it history by the back door, because what we're doing is telling a story that's really interesting, but behind the story there is a load of history thrown in," she said.

"So people are absorbing social history, and an awareness of Settle, without even realising that's what they're doing."

Ms Lister is a former headteacher and self-confessed history "nerd", who moved to Settle about 15 years ago.

She said the project had allowed her to find out more about the area.

"It's like Who Do You Think You Are because when you look at a gravestone you have no idea about the history attached to that," she said.

"But every grave is a little slice of history and when you do the research, it's absolutely fascinating."

As a way to commemorate the infants buried at the site and to preserve a part of the town's history, the church - led by Rev Julie Clarkson - is fundraising to create a memorial.

Plans for the space include a bench and an information plaque.

"Even if they're finding somewhere nice and quiet to take in the atmosphere and if they just spend a minute thinking about what that space represents, then that's mission accomplished," Ms Lister said.

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