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Families of people laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in limbo. 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 suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

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

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant place to go.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Clarity

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

Some want more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

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. We need good local conversations to find the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.