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Families of people buried in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Threat to Ancient Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the situation details a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

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

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

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “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 said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the options. “This concerns many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. We need good local conversations to find the right answers for each village.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “immense sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.