🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have 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 grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His parent expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new interments should stop 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 must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

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

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care 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 journey with communities.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires good community discussions to find the right answers for each community.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.