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Families whose relatives laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

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

A recent report on the situation sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

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

Projections suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, 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 the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

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

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path 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. “This concerns decades before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good local conversations to find the appropriate answers for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.