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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Projections indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves 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 occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving overseas. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

In her view, new burials should cease 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 critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

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

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need good community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.