WOKING’S Muslim Burial Ground Peace Garden has won first prize in a national awards scheme.

The walled garden, in woodland on Horsell Common, has been named winner at this year’s Local Government News Street Design Awards.

It came top in the Urban Green Space category, gaining recognition for Woking Borough Council, along with landscape architect terra firma Consultancy and Horsell Common Preservation Society.

The awards, organised by Local Government News magazine, recognise best practice and innovation in street design schemes.

The burial ground, off Monument Road, was established in 1917 as a cemetery for Allied Muslim soldiers who died of their wounds in this country during the First World War. There were further burials in the Second World War.

The remains of the soldiers were later transferred to Brookwood Cemetery and the site fell into disrepair over the following years.

In 2013, Horsell Common Preservation Society and Woking Borough Council came together to create a special place of remembrance celebrating the vast, and vitally important, contribution made to the Allied war effort by armies of the Indian sub-continent.

The peace garden was opened during an act of remembrance the Earl of Wessex on 12 November 2015.

Local Government News editor Laura Sharman said: “The judges were extremely impressed by the scheme, which achieved nearly perfect scores for its high quality design and meeting the objectives set out in the brief.”

For the full story get the 30 May edition of the News & Mail