A memorial stone commemorating the short life of an Edinburgh baby found on a Craigmillar pathway 23 years ago was reinstalled on Friday (April 26) - returning to the community after five years.
The infant, who was named by locals as Craig Millar, was discovered by a dog walker on the morning of March 11, 2001 between Harewood Road and Harewood Drive. The baby’s identity, and information about his parents, remains unknown.
The case shocked the Craigmillar community to its core - but the tragic incident also saw hundreds come together to raise money for the baby’s funeral service and headstone.
The infant, who was named by locals as Craig Millar, was discovered by a dog walker on the morning of March 11, 2001 between Harewood Road and Harewood Drive. The baby’s identity, and information about his parents, remains unknown.
The case shocked the Craigmillar community to its core - but the tragic incident also saw hundreds come together to raise money for the baby’s funeral service and headstone.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Our community for you still grieve. We erected a statue in memory of you. Of course it's
00:11placed where you were found. On the top still sits Teddy as in Winnie the Pooh. As will
00:19always BBC's sacred ground.
00:27It was a Sunday morning on the 11th of March 2001 when a former soldier walking his dogs
00:33discovered a baby's remains on a footpath in Craigmillar. The discovery would shock
00:38the local community but also bring them together. 23 years later, neither the identity of the
00:46baby nor his parents are known. But what is known is that baby Craigmillar will never
00:52be forgotten. Members of the community commemorated the short life of the infant this week, reinstalling
01:00a memorial for him on Harewood Road. Five years after, it was removed from its original
01:05location where Castlebrae community campus is now situated. It was on the 11th of March
01:132001 that this wee baby was found. And I saw all the cars and was wondering what was
01:18going on. And sadly I then found out that it was a beautiful baby boy that had been
01:26found. But the community, this community didn't judge the parents at all. We don't know what
01:33they were going through or what happened. What we did do was care for this baby boy
01:39and we made him of our own. We all decided that we should call him Craigmillar.
01:45More than 400 people attended the funeral for the boy the community named Craigmillar,
01:51with locals raising money for the service, a headstone and a memorial stone, with additional
01:57funds donated to the Simpson Hospital neonatal unit, which provided several incubators.
02:04My son, or one of my sons, was only a year old at the time and in my mind it was like,
02:09oh my god, how's the mum and what's the mum thinking and is she okay? It was just a shock
02:16to the community. After that the community came together and done all sorts and this
02:21was our answer today. But as I say, Craigmillar will always be in our hearts and he'll always
02:27be a memory and we take him under our wing, he's now ours. And I'm glad that the stone's
02:33back out here because everybody can come and pay their respects and do what they've
02:38done before because people used to leave flowers before and there were wee bits of jewellery
02:42and there were plants. So you knew everybody actually went out of their way to pay their
02:48respects, so it's good to have them back again.
02:52In 2019, the memorial was removed from its former site to allow for the construction
02:57for the local high school. Now situated just one street away, the new location will allow
03:03more people to pay their respects. And to mark the area where baby Craigmillar was found
03:0823 years ago, a memorial garden was built within Castlebrae campus.
03:14When you hear the story and how much the community feel, it's very typical of the people of Midray
03:21and Craigmillar. They really do feel it belongs to them. So we were really, really keen to
03:27work with the community to find what would be best for the community going forward. And
03:33so many people have been involved, like storing the memorial, renovating it, siting it, that
03:40it does again show the strength in the community still.
03:44To mark the exact spot where baby Craigmillar was found, the contractors made a little spot
03:51of reflection with two benches. And hopefully, eventually when we grow some plants and garden
03:58around it, so people can actually stop there for not only reflecting for the baby, but
04:05also a period of reflection for themselves. So the legacy will live on in Craigmillar.
04:11Family-run funeral directors, William Purvis, have looked after the memorial for the last
04:16five years, refurbishing the stone ahead of the public ceremony.
04:21The council ran a consultation and it was decided this would be the best place.
04:26People can come and they can visit here. It's an open public place. And so this morning,
04:31we brought the stone back and we put it in place. We refurbished the stone so that it
04:37looks good and the lettering is clear and will be for years to come.
04:41Nobody knew who this little boy was. And in spite of all the investigations, it was never
04:47discovered his identity, nor that of his parents. And everybody around, including me, because
04:54I live quite locally, found it very hard to hear and very upsetting. Then this fantastic
05:05community in Craigmillar stepped in. They gave this little man a name, Craigmillar,
05:13after the community voted on it. They gave him a fantastic funeral and they've donated
05:21proceeds from all the contributions to the funeral to the local hospital. And they've
05:29turned a tragedy into something heartwarming and life-affirming. And I think that's wonderful.
05:37And that's why I'm here, because I want to pay tribute, not only to this little baby boy,
05:44but also to the local community who've acted in such a warm, friendly, kind, welcoming way.
05:53Even though his life was very short, with his curly black hair, baby Craigmillar will live
06:01in our lives forever. And we will always tell the story of how he got his name. So thank you
06:08everybody for coming along today. It's so lovely to see this back in our community, where not only
06:15this memorial belongs, but so does baby Craigmillar. Thank you.