🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion argue that indecision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming 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 next few generations.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves 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 occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want more coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is approaching.

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

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.