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Loved ones of people buried in graves at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision over how to tackle the problem is creating unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their departed family.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being at risk of being consumed by the sea in the coming decades.

A recent report on the issue details a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to disinterring bodies and reburying them in safer locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It causes me distress. My parents wanted this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections suggest at least a portion of one graveyard could be claimed by the sea in the next 80 years, but some locals worry it will happen far earlier. “I think it’s got less than 20 years, if you look at what’s happened in the last 30 years,” one said.

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 sea, along with its place of worship and burial ground.

“You could see human remains,” she said. “Some have this romantic idea that people’s remains will just get carried away to the ocean. They won’t. People will take bones as mementos and go grave robbing looking for valuables. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the identical fate that happened at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the shore. I would feel appalled by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while working overseas. His parent expressed she lost sleep after learning her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

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

In her view, new interments should cease but says it is premature to exhume current plots. “My preference for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an early decision must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Answers and Clarity

An absence of agreement over when and how to tackle the challenge has resulted in grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some are calling for more sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to permit funerals to continue for now. Others contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A coastal manager said the burial sites were under the care of the church authorities. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. Our role is here to assist them through that journey with residents.”

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

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

The possibility of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “profound 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.