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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the issue details a series of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened 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 Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

“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.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist 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.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.