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Loved ones of people laid to rest in graves at risk from coastal erosion state that indecision on how best to tackle the issue is creating avoidable anguish about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Graveyards

The council have singled out three burial grounds in the communities of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

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

“Right now we’re in limbo. It upsets me. They intended this to serve as their last home, but it isn’t going to be because of the sea.”

Projections indicate at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves in the next 80 years, but some locals 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.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

A local business owner recalled a school trip to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including 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 washed out to sea. That is not the case. Individuals will collect remains as mementos and go plundering graves in search of valuables. That is completely undignified.”

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

A Soldier's Grave in Jeopardy

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a ex-soldier who died while serving overseas. His mother said she could not sleep after discovering her son’s grave might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to disturb current plots. “What I would choose for now is to take no action and closely monitor, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a critical moment has been attained.”

Seeking Answers and Certainty

An absence of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Several families want more coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to allow burials to continue for now. Others argue the moment for relocation is approaching.

“The situation is very emotional,” a family member stated. “The council’s report was thorough, but now there’s confusion about how it is implemented. And everybody is avoiding responsibility over who is responsible.”

A local official said the graveyards were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the path to take. Our role is here to help support them through that process with communities.”

It was also stated there was time to weigh all the options. “We are talking many years before it begins getting lost.”

“Currently, there exists no common view on what should happen yet. We need productive local conversations to discover the appropriate solutions for each village.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but church representatives also spoke of a doctrine in resurrection, offering a theological viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.