Irish authorities have begun excavation at a site in Tuam, County Galway, which is thought to contain the remains of around 800 babies who died in a Catholic-run institution for unmarried mothers.

According to Sky News on Tuesday, an order of Catholic nuns maintained the site, which was previously home to the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, from 1925 to 1961.

The clinic served unmarried pregnant women, many of whom had been raped or sexually abused and were compelled to give up their babies after birth.

Catherine Corless, a local historian who brought the subject to national notice in 2014, unearthed 798 child death certificates but only one burial record.

Her investigation provoked considerable indignation and spurred the government to launch an inquiry into Ireland’s institutional care system for women and children.

Preliminary results revealed that the bones of many of the children, some as young as 35 weeks in the pregnancy, were placed in what was once a septic tank on the property, which is now surrounded by a new apartment complex.

Corless told Sky News that the structure, known as “the pit”, may contain the remains of 796 babies, the majority of whom were never properly buried.

The excavation, which began this week, is part of an effort to identify the remains and provide them proper interment. The process is estimated to take up to two years.

“I don’t care if it’s a thimbleful, as they tell me there wouldn’t be much remains left; at six months old, it’s mainly cartilage more than bone,” Annette McKay, whose sister is believed to be one of the 798 victims, told Sky News.

Annette McKay, whose sister is believed to be among the deceased, described how her mother, Margaret O’Connor, learnt of her baby’s death.

Her mother, Margaret “Maggie” O’Connor, gave birth to a kid, Mary Margaret, at home after being raped at the age of 17.

The girl died six months later, and her mother only found out when a nun informed her.

“She was pegging out washing, and a nun came up behind her and said, ‘The child of your sin is dead,’” said Annette, who now lives in the UK.

The Bon Secours facility was part of a larger system of state-approved facilities throughout Ireland where pregnant women were imprisoned, forced into unpaid labour, and separated from their babies.

Women who fell pregnant again were frequently transported to Magdalene Laundries, notorious religious facilities for “fallen women”.

Initially, the term “fallen women” referred mostly to sex workers, but the Magdalene laundries subsequently began accepting “seduced” women, victims of rape and incest, and female orphans or infants abandoned or abused by their family.

The last Magdalene laundries closed their doors in the 1990s.

A 2021 state investigation found that around 9,000 children died in 18 similar homes, primarily from avoidable ailments such as gastroenteritis and respiratory infections.

In 2014, the Irish government formally apologised to survivors. It established a compensation plan in 2022, and it has already paid out over $32 million to over 800 people.