🔗 Share this article

Families of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed 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 more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action 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 agreement over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

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

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.