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Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, 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 the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of consensus over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards 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 assist them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good community discussions to discover the right solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.