🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion say that indecision on how best to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the situation details a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They wanted this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Others contend the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with residents.”

He added there was time to consider all the choices. “This concerns many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.