🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to address the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

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

A recent report on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

One resident recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want more coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.