Families' Distress Over Coastal Erosion Endangering Norfolk Graves
Loved ones of people buried in graves vulnerable to coastal erosion state that indecision over how to address the problem is creating avoidable anguish concerning the eternal homes of their loved ones.
An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards
Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.
A recent report on the issue sets out a range of possible actions, from taking no action to disinterring bodies and reburying them in more secure locations. Authorities say it is for local people to determine how to move forward.
“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents wanted this to be their final resting place, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”
Estimates suggest at least part 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 under 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.
Haunted by the Past
A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, along with its place of worship and burial ground.
“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. People will collect remains as souvenirs and go plundering graves looking for valuables. It’s completely undignified.”
“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”
A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril
Further up the shoreline lies the grave of a ex-soldier killed while working abroad. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be relocated.
“It truly disturb me to think this won’t be his permanent home,” she said. “For us it’s an significant place to go.”
In her view, new interments should stop but says it is too soon to exhume current plots. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”
Searching for Answers and Certainty
The lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives 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 moving graves is drawing near.
“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”
A local official confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that journey with communities.”
It was also stated there was time to weigh all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”
“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires good local conversations to find the right 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 referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.