🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion say that indecision over how to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure sites. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to be their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement 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 romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while working overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

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

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report 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 owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

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

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the right solutions for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a belief in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.