🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

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

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

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

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

The lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Others argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the right solutions for each village.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a theological perspective on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.