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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the coast lies the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

The lack of consensus over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families want additional sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to find the appropriate 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 doctrine in life after death, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.