🔗 Share this article

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that indecision over how to address the problem is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Churchyards

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

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. My parents intended this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

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

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper who died while serving overseas. His mother said she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

The lack of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to proceed for now. Others argue the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

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

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological perspective on the temporal loss of sacred ground.