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Families of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

The council have identified three burial grounds 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 possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

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

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is approaching.

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

A coastal manager said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the choices. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.