🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that indecision over how to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.

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

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. They wanted this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals 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 befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

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

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

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

Some want more coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue 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 taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

He added there was time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.