🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into 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 look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb 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 too soon to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

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

Several families want more coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“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 everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the options. “We are talking decades 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 the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.