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Families of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Officials say it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They wanted this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the waves 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 happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried 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 Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the moment for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the right answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was described as one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.