🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being consumed by the sea 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 more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

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

Some want more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.