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Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being swallowed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the nearby settlement 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 people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline lies the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is premature to exhume 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 attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

The lack of agreement over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to proceed for now. Others contend the time for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study 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 church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to find the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.