🔗 Share this article

Loved ones whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His parent said she lost sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with residents.”

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

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.