🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives buried in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities say it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “My preference 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 agreement over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families want more coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the right solutions for each village.”

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