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Loved ones of people buried in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities say 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 last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His parent said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions 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 additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices contend the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to consider all the choices. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.