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Families of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want more sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Others argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the right solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of hallowed earth.