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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. 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 indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared 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 the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His parent expressed she could not sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to consider this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of consensus over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want additional sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And all parties is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the right answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.