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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear 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,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to think this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the right answers for each village.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was described as one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.