🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the villages 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 issue sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Officials 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 serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by 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 happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, 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 carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline lies the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Others contend the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards 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 assist them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the choices. “This concerns decades before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to find the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.