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Families whose relatives laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear 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 recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want additional sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good community discussions to find the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.