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Families whose relatives buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision over how to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “I think 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 nearby settlement 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. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. 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 happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials 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 tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

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

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was ample time to consider all the choices. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

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

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.