Second Mass Grave Discovered at Irish Mother-and-Baby Home as Search for Nearly 800 Infants Deepens
A second burial ground has been identified at a former Irish home for unwed mothers operated by Catholic nuns, amid allegations that the remains of nearly 800 babies may be buried at the site.
Earlier this year, it was reported that a forensic team had begun excavating the grounds of a former “mother and baby home” in Tuam, Ireland, in an effort to locate the remains of almost 800 babies and children. The grim operation focused on the site where the institution, which closed more than 60 years ago, once stood, following revelations that as many as 798 children died there between 1925 and 1961.
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New details reported by the New York Post indicate that “consistent evidence” of a second burial location was uncovered during the most recent excavation. In a statement, the investigative team said there had been no visible or surface-level signs suggesting the presence of a burial ground at that location prior to the dig.
The newly identified burial area is believed to be located between 55 and 105 yards from a septic tank where the bodies of 796 infants born to unmarried mothers were thought to have been disposed of. Hundreds of babies are feared to have been dumped at the home.
Hundreds of babies are feared dumped at the home. Credit / Getty Images
According to the Office of the Director of Authorized Intervention, the newly discovered remains, found inside coffins, have been sent for forensic examination. Director Daniel MacSweeney stated that 160 individuals have so far contacted the office to provide DNA samples in the hope of identifying the remains.
As reported by The Guardian, local historian Catherine Corless from County Galway was the first to draw attention to the disturbing history of the Tuam baby home. Her initial research uncovered the names of 798 infants believed to have been buried on the grounds. “There are so many babies, children just discarded here,” Corless told Agence France-Presse.
Corless alleges that many of the children who died at the institution were disposed of in a septic tank known locally as “the pit.” Only two of the suspected 798 children were formally buried in a nearby cemetery, while the remainder are believed to lie in a mass grave without coffins, headstones, or burial records.
TUAM, IRELAND – JUNE 15: A general view of the remembrance garden on the former site of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home can be seen on June 15, 2025 in Tuam, Ireland. From 1925 to 1961 hundreds of children died at the St Mary’s Mother and Baby home, a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children, in Tuam, County Galway. It was run by the Bon Secours order of Catholic nuns and this type of home was common across Ireland for many decades. Test excavations at the site took place in 2016 and 2017 and a mass burial site was found in a former sewage tank containing the remains of 796 babies and toddlers, ranging in age from 35 foetal weeks to two to three years. Work will finally begin tomorrow morning on the excavation of the site and exhumation of the bodies of the children buried beneath the garden and playground area of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby home site. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
The Tuam home separated women and girls from their newborn children, who were then raised by nuns and later adopted, often without the mothers’ knowledge. According to the New York Post, some children were sent as far as the United States, Canada, or Australia, while hundreds of others died at the facility.
In 2015, the Irish government launched an investigation into 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes across Ireland, including the Tuam site. Speaking earlier this year to Sky News, Corless said she felt a sense of relief as the excavation finally moved forward. “It’s been a long, long journey. Not knowing what’s going to happen, if it’s just going to fall apart or if it’s really going to happen,” she said.
The Sisters of Bon Secours, the Catholic religious order that ran the Tuam home, have issued what they described as their “profound apologies.” Corless, however, continues to struggle to comprehend how such actions could have occurred. “The church preached to look after the vulnerable, the old and the orphaned, but they never included illegitimate children for some reason or another in their own psyche,” she said. “I never, ever understand how they could do that to little babies, little toddlers—beautiful, vulnerable children.”