🔗 Share this article

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

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves 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 bones on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Others contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with residents.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need productive local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in life after death, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.