THE Archbishop of York has held a service of dedication for a restored memorial to seven young people who died in a boating tragedy on the River Ouse.

The Rigg Monument in the graveyard at St Lawrence’s Church in Lawrence Street, which had become overgrown and dilapidated over the decades, has been restored by York Civic Trust at a cost of about £22,000.

It was created in 1839 through public donations after four sons and two daughters of Walmgate seed merchant John Rigg and his wife Ann drowned when their boat collided with another boat near Acomb Landing on a summer’s day in 1830 as they were heading upstream to Poppleton.

The children were Ann, 19, Eliza, 14, Thomas, 18, John, 16, James, seven, and Charles, six. A friend called Grace Robinson, aged 18, also died. Their deaths sent shockwaves across York and the country.

The York Gazette and Herald reported: "Awfully fatal event. Seven persons drowned."

It said: "Seven individuals in the bloom of health and in the height of enjoyment were in a moment numbered with the dead."

An inscription on the memorial said: “Raised by friendship in memory of four sons and two daughters of John and Ann Rigg, of this city... who were drowned by their boat being run down on the River Ouse, neaar York.”

But the words faded with time and the restoration work has included the recarving of the inscription.

Other work included the clearing away of vegetation and an overhanging tree-branch, the restoration and repainting of iron railings, repairs and repointing of damaged brickwork and the resetting of stonework.

The service, attended by the Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Dave Taylor, and the deputy lieutenant of North Yorlshire, Dr Paul Shepherd, began with representatives of St Lawrence’s C of E Primary School placing seven candles on the altar to remember the seven drowning victims before the names were read out.

The Archbishop, Dr John Sentamu, dedicated the memorial to the memory of the children and sprinkled it with Holy water, before the congregation placed daffodils nearby.