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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to tackle the problem is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being swallowed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the options. “This concerns many years before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the right answers for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.