🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the situation sets out a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, 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 washed out to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while working 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 lasting resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature 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 attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“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 all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

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

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.