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Today the area called the Angels Plot is the resting place for more than fifty thousand infants and children.

In early times stillborn babies were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground, as they had not been baptised. I was horrified when I first heard about this.

Glasnevin was the only cemetery that allowed stillborn babies to be buried in consecrated ground.

Over the years, the conditions of the Angel’s Plot deteriorated with the ground becoming unleveled and only a few headstones and monuments standing. In August, 2004, the Irish Stillborn And Neonatal Death Society (ISANDS) in conjunction with Glasnevin, began a restoration of the Old Angel’s Plot. The plot was landscaped as the Angel’s Memory Garden.

The areas which had collapsed were raised with top soil and benches were positioned around the garden for parents to take the time to reflect and remember. Flowers and trees were planted and the Angels Memory Garden was divided into distinct areas.

Stone tablets surrounding individual plots record the names of some of the babies that rest there. The plan is to give all parents the opportunity to be part of making their babies grave a more special place. With as many as 50 children in each grave, parents will now be able to at least find out the area in which their baby is buried.