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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that a lack of decision over how to address the problem is creating unnecessary distress about the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Graveyards

The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure sites. Authorities maintain it is for local people to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to be their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least a portion 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 less than 20 years, if you look at what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this idealized notion that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving overseas. His parent said she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

“It does trouble me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is premature to disturb current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been reached.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and anxious.

Some are calling for additional sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the moment for moving graves is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” 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 responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were owned and managed of the church authorities. “In the end it is up to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with residents.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the options. “We are talking many years before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should be done yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

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