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Loved ones whose relatives laid to rest in resting places at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision over how to address the issue is causing them avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being consumed by the ocean in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue sets out a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Officials say it is for the community to decide how to move forward.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals 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.

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 place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see people’s bones,” she said. “Certain people hold this romantic idea that the deceased will just get carried away to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will take bones as mementos and go plundering graves looking for treasures. It’s completely disrespectful.”

“I’m worried that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen at Happisburgh and there’ll be bones on the shore. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Grave in Peril

Further up the coast lies the grave of a former paratrooper who died while serving overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “My preference for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to tackle the problem has resulted in grieving relatives feeling exasperated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to delay the inevitable erosion and to allow funerals to continue for now. Others contend the moment for moving graves is approaching.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was thorough, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were under the care of the church authorities. “In the end it is down to them to decide the path to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was ample time to consider all the choices. “We are talking decades before it starts to be lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive community discussions to find the appropriate solutions for each community.”

The possibility of the loss of the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the area,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of sacred ground.