THE names of the men and boys who lie in mass burial trenches in a North-East town were recorded at their graveside yesterday - 96 years after their death.

Tomorrow, the memorial to the victims of the 1909 West Stanley Pit explosion, in County Durham, will be dedicated by the Bishop of Jarrow.

The memorial records the names of 118 men and boys who lie in the previously unmarked trenches and others in unmarked individual graves or those whose headstones have been destroyed.

Mark Delaney, co-owner of Scotts Memorials, which made the £5,600 memorial, was in charge of the team who added the names to the 9ft granite stone yesterday. The team used a crane to get the plaque over the cemetery wall.

He said: "We are just very pleased to have been asked to be involved in this project."

Bob Drake, member of the Stanley Memorial Committee, which raised the money to mark the graves, said: "It is looking grand. It really stands out and you can see it for miles."

The Northern Echo reported on the preparation of the burial trenches on Saturday, February 1909.

The report said: "Strong men, wielding spade and mattock, were toiling yesterday morning in the sunlight on the breezy hillside on which stands Stanley burial ground, under the shadow of St Andrew's Church.

"Three great trenches are being dug the full length of the burial ground; but there will not be a common grave. Each will be laid separately and a wall of clay will separate each victim as he lies and an individual mound will mark his distinctive resting place."

* Music will be played by the Reg Vardy Brass Band inside St Andrew's Church at 11.30am tomorrow. The service starts at noon and will be followed by a ceremony at the memorial. There will be an exhibition at the church institute afterwards.

Read more about the Stanley Pit Memorial campaign here.