Families of people buried in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to address the issue is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.
Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.
A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to determine how to move forward.
“At the moment 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 encroaching sea.”
Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry 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.
One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the water, including its church and graveyard.
“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”
“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”
Along the shoreline is situated the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working overseas. His mother said she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be relocated.
“It truly trouble me to think this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an significant place to go.”
In her view, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”
The lack of consensus over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.
Some want more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the time for moving graves is drawing near.
“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is responsible.”
A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with residents.”
He added there was ample time to consider all the choices. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”
“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the right solutions for each community.”
The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.
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