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Families whose relatives buried in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion say that indecision on how best to tackle the problem is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by 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.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

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

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

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

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.