Gravestones found dumped

Scores of gravestones have been found mysteriously dumped behind a Black Country canal.

The shock discovery also includes several urns and part of a headstone commemorating a 26-year-old man who died in 1993.

Another was bought for a woman who passed away in 2000. The gravestones were found by a man walking his dog on a grassed area off Coneygree Industrial Estate in Burnt Tree, Tipton. Many of the stones have been broken up but the names of the dead people can clearly be read.

The urns, containing various inscriptions, have been scattered among the tombstones.

The finder, who asked to remain anonymous as he has recently been bereaved, told how he initially thought it was a pile of junk.

"I walk my dog over here quite a lot but I had not been this way for two to three weeks," he said.

"I saw what initially looked like a pile of rubbish and I went to look. As I got closer I noticed what looked like gravestones.

"And I was even more shocked when I saw some of the dates on them."

The man added: "This has got to be distressing for the relatives of the people that have died. The last thing they would expect is that their headstones would be dumped in the middle of nowhere on a rubbish mound."

The man said it was a complete mystery how they got there. "There is no obvious way to drive a wagon to where they were dumped," he said. "And because of the weight of the headstones it would have needed quite a few people."

A Sandwell Council spokesman said there was no evidence at this stage to suggest the gravestones came from a cemetery in the borough. "Workmen will go out and do what checks they can to discover where they have come from," he said.

* Do you know where the headstones have come from? Call the newsdesk on 01902 319410 or email newsdesk@expressandstar.co.uk

By Dave Lawley