Fans of the BBC drama Call the Midwife will have seen the recent episode where two young boys were abandoned by their mother in a church.

The discovery of the brothers inside the church in Poplar, leaves welfare officer Cyril scrambling to find their mother before it’s too late.

Sadly, in decades past this wasn’t anything unusual.

Babies were often left in churches, on the steps of convents and - as we have revealed in past Memories features- in ditches, in overhead train racks and even hat boxes.

Echo: Two brothers are abandoned in a church in a recent episode of Call the Midwife.Two brothers are abandoned in a church in a recent episode of Call the Midwife. (Image: BBC)

One place you might not expect a baby to be left is inside a public toilet, but that’s exactly what happened in Rayleigh in 1967.

On a Friday evening just before Christmastime a baby boy was abandoned in an old Victorian toilet block in Crown Hill, off the High Street.

The blonde haired, blue eyed tot was aged around 11 months old. No note was left beside him.

He was named ‘Nicholas’ by a policewoman who was called out to the scene because he was wrapped in Christmas paper and because he was taken to the ‘nic’.

Police launched a huge investigation and all efforts were made to track down Nicholas’s family.

After a few days no progress had been made, however, one good thing that did come out of the situation was that police were inundated with calls from people wanting to take the little lad in and look after him.

Echo: Headlines across the country - more than 300 people had got in touch with the policeHeadlines across the country - more than 300 people had got in touch with the police (Image: Newsquest)

In fact, by one point more than 300 people had got in touch with the police asking to adopt the ‘gift wrapped’ baby.

“He is a beautiful baby and he’s obviously been cared for,” said a police spokesman.

Nicholas was taken to a children’s home in Writtle Wick, Chelmsford. A few days later his mother came forward.

She said she had abandoned the boy because she had no money to buy him presents for Christmas. Accompanied by her other son, aged 15 years, she visited Nicholas – who was actually called Peter- in the home. It seems that the family were eventually reunited.

The toilet block on Crown Hill was sold off by the council and has recently been transformed into a popular micropub.