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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that indecision over how to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities say 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 serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals 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,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to think this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

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

Some want additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “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 accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.