The Military Section
In late 1930s as war was approaching the Government began to consider how the wartime dead would be buried, where the death occurring in this country. In 1939 Darwen Borough Council received a letter from the Ministry of Health requesting a space in the cemetery be set-aside for war graves for the navy, military and air force.
The Cemetery Registrar, Wilfred Cordingley, had identified a plot of land suitable for burial of military deaths and this was approved by the Council in early January 1940. In the following September, the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission CWGC) obtained permission from the Borough Council to erect temporary wooden crosses and maintain the war graves in the cemetery. This was agreed to on the understanding that the crosses would be replaced by permanent headstones after the cessation of hostilities.
The military section now contains 7 CWGC headstones and one Ministry of Defence stone. This first burial took place on 1st June 1940 and the final headstone is for a death that took place on 13th July 2007.
