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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families want additional sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the right solutions for each community.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.