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Loved ones whose relatives buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

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

Estimates indicate 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. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, along with 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 sea. That is not the case. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper who died while serving overseas. His parent expressed she could not sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

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

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

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

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

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.