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Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the villages 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 series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Officials say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to consider this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

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 closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the right solutions for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.