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Loved ones whose relatives buried in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being swallowed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

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

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry 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,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, 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 washed out to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Along the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

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

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others argue the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with residents.”

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

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.