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Families of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals 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,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does disturb me to think this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

He added there was time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.