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Families whose relatives buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear 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,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement 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. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His parent expressed she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to consider this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

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

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

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

It was also stated there was time to consider all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.