🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards 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 situation sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

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

Projections suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Along the coast lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving abroad. His parent expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” 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 accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with communities.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the options. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, offering a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.