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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion state that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being swallowed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the waves 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 consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Clarity

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment 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 responsible.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. We need good local conversations to discover the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.