🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves 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 consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

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

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with residents.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the right answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.