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Families whose relatives buried in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard 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 less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others contend the moment 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 uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

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

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.