🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat argue that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones 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 who died while serving overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant place to go.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

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

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.