🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision on how best to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village 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 romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs 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 skeletons on the beach. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while working abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the time for relocation is approaching.

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

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up 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 consider all the choices. “This concerns many years before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the right answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of sacred ground.