🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by 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 Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with residents.”

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

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was described as one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.