🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Officials say 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 be their last home, 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 locals worry it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline lies the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon 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 critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

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

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

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, offering a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.