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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision on how best to address the problem is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Officials say it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Further up the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while serving abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It does disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

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

Several families want additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

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

A coastal manager said the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. We need productive community discussions to discover the right answers for each village.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.