🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Officials say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. My parents intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of valuables. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Along the shoreline lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while working overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb 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 interments should stop but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” 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 accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good community discussions to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect 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 doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.