🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to address the problem is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“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 appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while working abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want more coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with residents.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need good community discussions to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.