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Loved ones of people buried in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion say that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the situation details a series of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure sites. Officials say it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. 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 suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

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

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the right answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.