Relatives' Distress Regarding Shoreline Erosion Threatening Norfolk Burial Sites

Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Historic Churchyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being swallowed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to move forward.

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

Projections suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen much sooner. “I think 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

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get washed out to the ocean. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while working abroad. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly trouble me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices contend the time for relocation is approaching.

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study 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 confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.