Families' Anguish Regarding Shoreline Degradation Endangering Norfolk Burial Sites
Families of people laid to rest in graves vulnerable to shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision on how best to address the issue is creating unnecessary distress concerning the final resting places of their departed family.
A Looming Danger to Ancient Churchyards
The council have identified three church graveyards in the communities 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 possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for local people to decide how to proceed.
“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to serve as their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”
Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could fall into the sea in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen far earlier. “In my view it’s got less than 20 years, if you consider what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.
Haunted by the Past
One resident recalled a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, along with its church and graveyard.
“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 the ocean. They won’t. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of treasures. That is completely undignified.”
“I’m worried that the same thing that happened at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be appalled by that.”
A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy
Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.
“It does disturb me to think this won’t be his lasting home,” she said. “For us it’s an important place to go.”
In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb 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 Solutions and Clarity
The lack of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.
Some are calling for additional sea defences to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices contend the time for relocation is drawing near.
“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”
A coastal manager said the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up 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 options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”
“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires good local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”
The prospect of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.