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Families of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that a lack of decision on how best to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. They wanted this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while working overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want more coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

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

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need good local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.