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Loved ones of people buried in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to address the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

The council 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 coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They intended this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the coast lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the choices. “This concerns many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good local conversations to find the appropriate answers for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.