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Families whose relatives laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. My parents wanted this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus 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 unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

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

It was also stated there was time to consider 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 find the right solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.