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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision over how to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't 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 residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider 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 vanished into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion 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. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is approaching.

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

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.