🔗 Share this article

Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision on how best to address the problem is creating unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into 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 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 neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves in search of treasures. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while serving overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

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

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” 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 responsible.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. We are here to assist them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the options. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. We need good community discussions to find the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.