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Families of people laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat argue that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards

The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer sites. Authorities say it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to serve as 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 sea in the next 80 years, but some locals fear it will happen much sooner. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her child's grave might one day be relocated.

“It truly disturb me to consider this may not remain his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an important site to visit.”

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

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

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

Several families are calling for more coastal protections to delay the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to proceed for now. Others contend the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to help support them through that process with communities.”

He added there was time to weigh all the options. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the appropriate answers for each community.”

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal disappearance of sacred ground.