🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision over how to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the situation details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest 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 much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of consensus over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some want additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive local conversations to find the right answers for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of hallowed earth.