A memorial has been placed to denote a common grave in Llanbeblig Cemetery in Caernarfon where babies, children and adults have been laid to rest.
The common grave in Llanbeblig Cemetery which is in the care of Gwynedd Council was an ‘un-marked grave’ for people from the Bodfan workhouse, the town and the nearby area who were in unfortunate circumstances. A total of 228 people were laid to rest in the grave between 1922 and 1961.
A committee recently came together which included representatives from Gwynedd Council and Caernarfon Town Council who have worked together on the project to install a memorial so that the grave can now be recognised.
Councillor John Wynn Jones, Gwynedd Council Cabinet Member for Environment said: “It is very sad to think that well over 200 people have been laid to rest in the common grave in Llanbeblig Cemetery, some of them as recent as the early 1960s.
“With babies and children who died too soon, unmarried mothers who died during childbirth as well as people who lived in the town’s workhouse laid to rest there, it is extremely important that there is a memorial to remember those 228 individuals. It is pleasing to see that flowers have already been placed and I’m sure that the memorial will become a location where a number of people go to show their respects and to reflect about thoes who have been put to rest there.
“We are extremely thankful for the joint working on this important project for the town of Caernarfon, and I would like to state our gratitude for the memorial stone which is a gift from a funeral director and also to Karen Owen for the thoughtful and apt poem on the memorial. It is a fitting tribute to those individuals who have been laid to rest in Llanbeblig Cemetery’s common grave.”
