Families' Heartache Over Coastal Erosion Endangering Norfolk Burial Sites

Families whose relatives laid to rest in resting places vulnerable to coastal erosion state that a lack of decision over how to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

A Looming Threat to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the villages of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a range of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer locations. Authorities say it is for the community to determine how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it won't be because of the sea.”

Estimates indicate at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for treasures. It’s completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the shoreline is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

The lack of agreement over when and how to tackle the challenge has left bereaved families feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families want more sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “This concerns decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “immense sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.