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Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat say that indecision on how best to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in more secure sites. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the sea, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families want additional sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.