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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. They intended this to be their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be 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 expressed she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns many years before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.