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Loved ones of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision over how to tackle the problem is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the situation details a range 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 move forward.

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

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves 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 occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Along the shoreline lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to consider this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments 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 critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others contend the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose 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 decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.