Families' Distress Regarding Coastal Degradation Endangering Coastal Norfolk Graves

Families of people buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion state that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A recent report on the issue sets out a range of options, from taking no action to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

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

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Past

One resident remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its church and graveyard.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

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

“It truly disturb me to think this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”

In her view, new interments should stop 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 must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and worried.

Some are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were owned and managed 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 ample time to consider all the choices. “This concerns many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. We need good local conversations to find the right solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a belief in resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.