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Families whose relatives buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion argue that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the issue is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Historic Graveyards

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

A recent report on the situation sets out a series of options, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer sites. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

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

Estimates suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents worry it will happen far earlier. “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 school trip to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his lasting home,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

She believes, new burials should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and closely monitor, but an early decision needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

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

Some want more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit burials to continue for now. Others argue the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to help support them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh 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 productive local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.