🔗 Share this article

Loved ones whose relatives buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion state that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A recent report on the situation details a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving overseas. His mother said she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

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

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some want additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the options. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need good local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.