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Loved ones whose relatives laid to rest in graves at risk from shoreline retreat say that a lack of decision on how best to tackle the problem is causing them unnecessary distress about the eternal homes of their loved ones.

A Looming Threat to Ancient Graveyards

Local authorities have identified three church graveyards in the communities of Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Trimingham as being in danger of being engulfed by the ocean in the coming decades.

A newly published study on the situation sets out a series of possible actions, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and relocating them in more secure locations. Officials maintain it is for the community to decide how to proceed.

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

Projections suggest at least part of one churchyard 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 under 20 years, if you consider what’s occurred in the last 30 years,” a farmer stated.

Haunted by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the neighbouring village of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its place of worship and burial ground.

“It was possible to see people’s bones,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion 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. It’s completely undignified.”

“I’m worried that the identical fate that befell at Eccles will occur here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be disgusted by that.”

A Paratrooper's Resting Place in Peril

Further up the coast is situated the grave of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His mother expressed she lost sleep after discovering her son’s final plot might one day be moved.

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

She believes, new interments should cease but says it is too soon to exhume existing graves. “What I would choose for now is to do nothing and watch carefully, but an timely resolution must be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Searching for Solutions and Certainty

An absence of agreement over the timing and method to handle the problem has left grieving relatives feeling frustrated and worried.

Some want more sea defences to delay the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices argue the time for moving graves is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The council’s report was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is implemented. And everybody is washing their hands over who is responsible.”

A local official said the burial sites were under the care of the local diocese. “Ultimately it is up to them to choose the direction to take. We are here to assist them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to weigh all the options. “This concerns decades before it starts to be lost.”

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

The prospect of the loss of the historic sites was described as one of “immense sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also spoke of a belief in resurrection, providing a spiritual viewpoint on the temporal loss of sacred ground.