11 July 2017

An open air commemoration service will be hosted at the Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common, Woking on Sunday 16 July 2017 at 2pm. All are welcome.

The service will mark the anniversary of the first Muslim soldier, killed during the Great War, buried at the Muslim Burial Ground on 16 July 1915. This site became the final resting place of 19 Muslim Soldiers from the Great War and a further eight soldiers from World War 2.

Located in the south east corner of Horsell Common and a short distance from the Shah Jahan Mosque (the UK’s first purpose-built Mosque), the site was purchased by the War Office and a burial ground commissioned in 1915 to ensure Muslim soldiers could be buried in accordance with their religious rights.

Designed by architect T.H. Winney and completed in 1917 by local firm, Ashby & Horner, the site soon became the final resting place of 19 Muslim soldiers from the Great War and a further eight casualties of the Second World War.

In 1969, following the exhumation of the servicemen’s remains by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to the nearby Brookwood Military Cemetery, Horsell Common Preservation Society took ownership of the site.

Opened by the Earl of Wessex in November 2015, the restored site and new Peace Garden features 27 Himalayan Birch trees representing the number of servicemen buried at the site, a water feature incorporating a memorial stone bearing their names, bold strips of pink and white heather orientated towards Mecca, scented plants such as rosa rugosa and sarcococca orientalis, two stone ceremonial prayer mats and benches.

This is an open event and everyone is invited to come along to the service.

Article by Woking Borough Council