🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to be their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including 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 sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Clarity

The lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the time for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.