Baby

The body of a baby was found inside the south gate of Sithney Churchyard at about 8am on Tuesday 13 January 1959.

It was found by a farm worker who worked at Glebe Farm, Sithney who said that he noticed an unusual object on the steps leading into the churchyard whilst he was going to breakfast from his employment. He said that when he was returning from his breakfast that he noticed the object again and when he looked closer found that it was a carrycot containing a child with a note pinned to the child's clothing.

The note had been printed in stencil and asked the finder of the child to take it to the nearest hospital, but the child was already dead.

The farm worker then took the child to the farm and the farmer then called the police and the child's body was taken to the Royal Cornwall Infirmary for examination.

The police said that the child had been in a pink Pelso-make carry-cot of fair condition with a cream interior and that the child's body had been wrapped in a light green sheet, a yellow Lanair-Cel cellular blanket and a white Slumberland lambswool cot cover which was embossed with a white hen with a red comb and four yellow chicks.

The police said that they were appealing for anyone with information likely to reveal who the mother of the child was or who was responsible for placing the child in the churchyard.

The child's cause of death was not revealed.

Another baby was found wrapped up in a bundle on a roadside verge the following year about a quarter of a mile from Sithney Churchyard.