🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

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 next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” 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 in search of valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

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

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of consensus over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to continue for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the options. “This concerns many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

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