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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They wanted this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea 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 happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while working abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does disturb me to think this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some want more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to proceed for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “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 local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.