Families' Distress Over Coastal Degradation Endangering Coastal Norfolk Burial Sites

Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that indecision on how best to tackle the problem is creating avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Historic Graveyards

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

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They wanted this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I would feel disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the coast lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she could not sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and worried.

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

“It is very emotional,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

It was also stated there was ample time to consider all the choices. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. It requires good local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.