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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Officials maintain it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to consider this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns many years before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.