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Loved ones whose relatives buried in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 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 recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline lies the grave 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 relocated.

“It does disturb me to consider this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was ample time to consider all the choices. “This concerns decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no common view on what should happen yet. We need good community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a belief in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.