🔗 Share this article

Loved ones whose relatives buried in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat argue that indecision on how best to address the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Officials say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Along the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Some want additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, 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 graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was described as one of “profound sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.