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Families of people laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. 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 serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider 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 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 people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

An absence of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want more coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“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 everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was 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 solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.