🔗 Share this article

Loved ones whose relatives buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

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

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. People will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

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

He added there was time to consider all the choices. “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 local conversations to find the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.