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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being swallowed 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. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment 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 churchyard could fall into the sea 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 happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

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

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a belief in resurrection, offering a theological perspective on the temporal loss of sacred ground.