🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision over how to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

“Right now 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 sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the sea 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,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose 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 when and how to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want more coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official 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 help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the right answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.