🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry 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,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals 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 befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

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

The prospect of losing the historic sites was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.