🔗 Share this article

Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision over how to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue sets out a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry 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.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. People will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the coast lies the grave of a ex-soldier who died while working overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant place to go.”

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume 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 tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of agreement over when and how to handle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

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

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

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

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to find the right 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 life after death, offering a theological perspective on the physical loss of hallowed earth.