🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to address the problem is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families want additional sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.