🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

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 ocean in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Officials say it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

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

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to handle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling frustrated and anxious.

Some are calling for more coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

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

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.