Barnsley councillor calls for memorial to stillborn babies to be cleaned and repaired
The memorial in Barnsley Cemetery was unveiled in 1986 - but there are calls for it to be restored and re-dedicated
A Barnsley councillor is urging the local authority to restore and maintain a memorial to stillborn babies as the 40th anniversary of its unveiling approaches.
The memorial, located in Barnsley Cemetery on Cemetery Road, was unveiled by then-mayor Alice Wood in July 1986. Councillor Jake Lodge is now hoping Barnsley Council will restore the memorial before the upcoming anniversary next year, with the aim of holding a re-dedication ceremony.
Councillor Lodge told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the memorial had a personal meaning to him and his family.
“It’s personal for me, because my sister is buried here. She was stillborn in 1990, and this memorial was only installed four years before that. Every time we came up, my mam always used to tell us to put a flower in the top for the kids that weren’t recognised.
“She went through the process of being asked if she wanted her to be buried in a mass grave, but refused. She was only 16 at the time.”
Before the 1980s, the bodies of stillborn and miscarried babies were often taken away by hospital workers from families who were not given any details of their resting place.
Many miscarried or stillborn babies were laid to rest in mass graves, and memorials like this one provided a place for families, who may not have known the exact resting place of their babies, to honour and remember them.
“This is important, because it recognises the kids that went unknown for so long. It’s where families came to put a flower for kids that went unknown,” added councillor Lodge. “It just goes to show why memorials like this are so important.”
“Given its 40th anniversary, I think it’s only fair that we’re cleaning it up.”
Councillor Lodge hopes that the council will commit to cleaning the memorial when he asks at the next full council meeting on March 27.
If agreed, councillor Lodge hopes that the upcoming mayor will attend a re-dedication ceremony in July 2026, along with faith leaders and affected families.
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