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Families of people laid to rest in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion say that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is causing them unnecessary distress concerning the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

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

A recent report on the issue sets out a series of options, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest at least a portion of one churchyard could be claimed by the sea 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,” one said.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely vanished into the sea, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of valuables. That is completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

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

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

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “My preference 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.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want additional coastal protections to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were under the care 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 journey with residents.”

He added there was ample time to weigh all the options. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should happen yet. It requires productive local conversations to discover the right 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 resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the physical disappearance of hallowed earth.