🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives buried in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk 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 exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered 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.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves in search of valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while working overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant place to go.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, 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 burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the appropriate answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.