🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision on how best to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

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

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

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

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to consider this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a theological perspective on the temporal loss of sacred ground.