🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure sites. Officials say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion 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 occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a school trip to the nearby 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. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the time for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are 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 many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of sacred ground.