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Families whose relatives buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that indecision over how to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue details a series of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment 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 graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

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

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. It’s 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 Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to think 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 too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution 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 challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.