🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least part 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 happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of valuables. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

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

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

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires good local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.