The Church of England has intervened to stop developers build over a historic graveyard at a hospital after it was discovered the land was set aside for sacred use 'in perpetuity'.

The graveyard in the grounds of the Calderstones hospital in the Ribble Valley, which is earmarked for closure, had been derelict until it was sold by the NHS to a private developer in 2000, according to the Guardian.

Developers had removed nearly 500 headstones soon after it was sold. However, historians discovered records from 102 years ago setting aside the land permanently for sacred use.

The company behind the development, All Faiths Remembrance Parks, wants to build a crematorium and car park. The diocese of Blackburn is considering whether to agree, but campaigners have asked the bishop of Blackburn, Julian Henderson, to have a garden of remembrance planted instead.

The hospital was designed for people with learning disabilities and 1,171 patients died there and were buried between 1915 and the 1970s.

The developer said it would open an 'electronic book of remembrance' for them.

Local people were appalled at the removal of the gravestones and the state of the derelict graveyard, but a group of volunteers known as the 'grave detectives' managed to locate the positions of the bodies.

Angela Dunn, the general manager of All Faiths Remembrance Parks, told the Guardian: 'We want to build a beautiful garden of remembrance around our proposed crematorium with open access for the local community including easy access for disabled persons.

'This garden will be maintained to the very highest standards and designed to remember the dead of all faiths, both past and present. We do not want to see Calderstones cemetery fall, once again, into disrepair.'