🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat state that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

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

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “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 attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“It 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 everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to decide the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.