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Loved ones whose relatives laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision on how best to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A recent report on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest 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. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

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

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

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

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with residents.”

It was also stated there was ample time to consider all the options. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires good local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of hallowed earth.