Babies plot returned to Milltown

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A plot of land where babies and infants are buried is to be handed back to Milltown Cemetery, its original owners.

The land was owned by the Catholic Church but was sold some years ago and incorporated into the Ulster Wildlife Trust's Bog Meadows Nature Reserve.

Families believed hundreds of dead babies may have been inadvertently transferred out of the cemetery when the land was sold.

The trust has now agreed to transfer the plot back to cemetery authorities.

The decision was taken by the nature conservation charity's board of trustees on Wednesday and is subject to compensation being agreed.

The Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Noel Treanor, officially consecrated the land on Cemetery Sunday earlier this month.

Relatives of the babies have been campaigning to have the plot consecrated and treated as an integral part of Milltown Cemetery.

Earlier this year, archaeologists undertook a radar search for graves in the Bog Meadows

Is it understood the fence which separated the plot from the rest of the cemetery has now been taken down.