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Families whose relatives buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Threat to Historic Churchyards

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

A newly published study on the issue details a range 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 proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. My parents wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Haunted by the Past

A local business owner recalled a childhood visit to the nearby village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. That is not the case. People will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves looking for valuables. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Paratrooper's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the coast lies the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving overseas. His mother expressed she lost sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.

“It truly trouble me to consider this may not remain his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important place to go.”

In her view, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has resulted in bereaved families feeling exasperated and worried.

Several families are calling for additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

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

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

It was also stated there was ample time to weigh all the choices. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no unified opinion on what should happen yet. We need productive local conversations to find the right solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of hallowed earth.