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Families of people buried in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat state that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

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

Projections indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby village of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Peril

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be relocated.

“It does trouble me to consider this won’t be his lasting resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant site to visit.”

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

The lack of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation 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 responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.