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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear 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,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including 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 carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

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

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the options. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.