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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision over how to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being swallowed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a belief in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of hallowed earth.