Families' Distress Over Shoreline Erosion Threatening Coastal Norfolk Burial Sites

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards

The council have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.

“Right now we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

The lack of consensus over the timing and method to handle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families are calling for more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end 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 weigh all the choices. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive community discussions to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.