🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by 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 consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the coast lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Clarity

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some are calling for more sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“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 all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”

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