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Families whose relatives buried in resting places at risk from coastal erosion say that indecision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish concerning the final resting places of their loved ones.

A Looming Danger to Historic Churchyards

Local authorities have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the next few generations.

A newly published study on the issue details a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Officials say it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“At the moment we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to serve as their last home, but it won't be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates indicate at least part of one graveyard could be claimed by the waves in the next 80 years, but some residents 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.

Troubled by the Past

A local business owner remembered a childhood visit to the neighbouring settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely vanished into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

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

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

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the shoreline is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper who died while serving abroad. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her son’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 important site to visit.”

In her view, new burials should stop but says it is too soon to disturb existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a critical moment has been reached.”

Seeking Answers and Clarity

An absence of agreement over when and how to handle the problem has left bereaved families feeling frustrated and anxious.

Several families are calling for additional sea defences to slow the inevitable erosion and to allow burials to continue for now. Others contend the time for relocation is drawing near.

“The situation is very emotive,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And all parties is avoiding responsibility over who is accountable.”

A coastal manager confirmed the graveyards were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is down to them to decide the direction to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

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

“There is no common view on what should be done yet. It requires good community discussions to discover the appropriate answers for each community.”

The possibility of losing the churches and graveyards was described as one of “profound sorrow for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual perspective on the physical disappearance of sacred ground.