🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that indecision on how best to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the situation sets out a series of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to serve as their final resting place, 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 waves 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 occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the options. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.