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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 tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being consumed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, 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. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Clarity

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want additional sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

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

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

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

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in life after death, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.