🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at 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 settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to consider this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some are calling for more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down 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 time to consider all the choices. “This concerns many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the right answers for each community.”

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 doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.