🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council 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 newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities say 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 intended this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have 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 looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His parent said she lost sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed 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 process with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires good local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was described as one of “profound sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.