🔗 Share this article

Loved ones whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that indecision over how to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A recent report on the situation details a range of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure locations. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast lies the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her child's grave might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference 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 Solutions and Clarity

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to proceed for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is approaching.

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

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the options. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need good community discussions to find the right solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a belief in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.