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Loved ones of people buried in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A recent report on the issue details a range of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure locations. Officials say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. They wanted this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to 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 locals worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of consensus over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families want additional coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A local official said the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

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

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

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.