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Loved ones of people laid to rest in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat argue that indecision on how best to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being swallowed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Projections indicate 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 far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

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

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some want more coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to continue for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was time to consider all the options. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the right solutions for each village.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the temporal loss of sacred ground.