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Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the situation details a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Officials say it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His mother said she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to tackle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is approaching.

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

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

It was also stated there was time to consider all the options. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

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

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.