🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people laid to rest in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Officials say it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with residents.”

It was also stated there was ample time to consider all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.