Nearly 800 Babies Found in Church Sewage System After Decades in Mass Grave

Nearly 800 children who died at a church-run home for unmarried mothers in Tuam, Ireland, are now being recovered from what was once a sewage system, officials revealed this week.

The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT), announced that seven sets of infant remains were recently uncovered in an underground vaulted structure on the grounds of the former Mother and Baby Home. Forensic testing is now underway to determine the age of the remains and when the children died, with results expected in the coming months.

The Tuam site has a long, complex history. From 1841 to 1918, it served as a workhouse, housing the poor in exchange for food and labor. It later became a military barracks from 1918 to 1925, before operating as the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home from 1925 to 1961. Mother-and-baby homes in Ireland were institutions run by Catholic orders where unmarried pregnant women were sent to give birth, often under harsh conditions, and many infants who died were never properly recorded or buried.

ODAIT said the latest recovery is part of ongoing phased excavations across the site. Personal items, including a Bovril jar and a razor, were also documented during the digs. In a separate area linked to the site’s workhouse era, seven sets of historic skeletal remains have been recovered and are being handled in coordination with the National Museum of Ireland.

Previous test excavations had already revealed “significant quantities” of juvenile remains in the old sewage system. Officials have not disclosed how many children may ultimately be recovered, but the ongoing work highlights the scale of the tragedy.

Local historian Catherine Corless spent years combing through death certificates and church records from the home, documenting 796 children who died there. Many of these deaths were never recorded in burial logs. Her research initially faced backlash, with some accusing her of “giving Tuam a bad name,” but her work ultimately helped bring the mass graves to public attention.

“It’s been a fierce battle. When I started this, nobody wanted to listen. At last we are righting the wrongs,” said Corless, 71. “I was just begging: Take the babies out of this sewage system and give them the decent Christian burial that they were denied.”