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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper who died while working overseas. His parent expressed she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave 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 significant place to go.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Others contend the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the choices. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

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

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a theological perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.