IN 2004, Professor James Walsh of the University of Denver discovered hundreds of unmarked pauper graves.

They were located in the Catholic Free section of the Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville, Colorado, USA.

Meticulous research of church records and census returns revealed the names of most of these individuals - many of them Cleator Moor Irish.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a substantial diaspora of Cleator Moor miners and their families to metal mining centres worldwide.

Leadville was one of the earliest and most significant and part of the settlement was named Cleator Moor Gulch, as shown on an 1896 street map of the town.

Francis McCrickard, born and brought up in Cleator Moor, has been assisting Professor Walsh in recording and confirming the links between the town and Leadville.

On September 16, he represented Cleator Moor in a private capacity at the opening ceremony of a memorial to these 'forgotten Irish'.

The monument was in part funded by the Irish Government and unveiled by its Ambassador to the USA, Geraldine Byrne Mason, and Michael Bennet, Senator for Colorado.

A project spokesperson said: "The memorial acknowledges the important part Cork and Cleator Moor miners and their families played in the establishment and growth of Leadville in the late nineteenth century.

"It recognizes their struggle: the impoverished, unhealthy living conditions, low wages, and the hardships of mining at over ten thousand feet in extremes of temperature and weather and draws attention to those who suffer similar hardships today.

"The average age of those in these pauper graves is 22. A great number were under five.

"The names and memory of all found in the unmarked burial places are engraved and honoured in tall glass panels which are lit at night."

Further details about Cleator Moor's connection with Colorado in the United States can be found online.