🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out 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 recent report on the situation sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be 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 residents fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It does disturb me to consider this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was ample time to consider all the options. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is 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 losing the historic sites was described as one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.