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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They wanted this to be their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

“It does disturb me to consider this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution 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 handle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the options. “This concerns many years 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 appropriate answers for each village.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a theological perspective on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.