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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

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

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with 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. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

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

Searching for Answers and Certainty

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

Some want more coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to continue for now. Others contend the time for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that process with residents.”

He added there was ample time to weigh 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 good community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.