🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat argue that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

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

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry 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,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including 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 washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

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

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation 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 accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.