Families' Heartache Over Shoreline Erosion Endangering Norfolk Graves
Families of people laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion argue that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.
An Impending Danger to Historic Churchyards
The council have identified three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the next few generations.
A recent report on the situation details a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in safer sites. Officials say it is for local people to decide how to move forward.
“At the moment we’re in a state of uncertainty. It upsets me. My parents intended this to be their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”
Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents fear it will happen much sooner. “In my view it’s got under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.
Troubled by the Past
A local business owner remembered a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has largely disappeared into the sea, including its church and graveyard.
“You could see human remains,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”
“I’m worried that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur at Happisburgh and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”
A Soldier's Grave in Peril
Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working overseas. His parent said she could not sleep after learning her son’s grave might one day be moved.
“It truly disturb me to consider this won’t be his permanent resting place,” 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 exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been reached.”
Seeking Answers and Certainty
An absence of consensus over the timing and method to handle the challenge has left grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.
Some are calling for more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Different voices argue the time for relocation is approaching.
“It is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is washing their hands over who is accountable.”
A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is down to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to assist them through that process with communities.”
It was also stated 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 be done yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each village.”
The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was labeled one of “profound sadness for the area,” but church representatives also referenced a doctrine in resurrection, providing a theological perspective on the physical loss of sacred ground.