🔗 Share this article

Loved ones whose relatives buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for more coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

A coastal manager said the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to consider all the options. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.