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Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to tackle the problem is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

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

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view 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 Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could 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. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to consider this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.