🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

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

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen far earlier. “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 remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement 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 romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper who died while working abroad. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official 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 weigh all the options. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.