🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion say that indecision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves 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 Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should stop 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 tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for additional sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.