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Loved ones of people buried in resting places at risk from shoreline retreat say that indecision over how to tackle the problem is causing them avoidable anguish about the final resting places of their loved ones.

An Impending Danger to Ancient Churchyards

Local authorities have identified three burial grounds in the communities 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 sets out a range of options, from doing nothing to exhuming remains and reburying them in more secure sites. Authorities maintain it is for the community to determine how to proceed.

“Right now we’re in a state of uncertainty. It causes me distress. They intended this to be their final resting place, but it isn’t going to be because of the encroaching sea.”

Estimates suggest at least part of one churchyard could fall into the waves 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,” a farmer stated.

Troubled by the Ghosts of Eccles

One resident recalled a childhood visit to the nearby settlement of Eccles, which has almost entirely disappeared into the water, including its church and graveyard.

“It was possible to see human remains,” she said. “Some have this idealized notion that the deceased will just get washed out to sea. That is not the case. People will take bones as souvenirs and go grave robbing looking for treasures. That is completely undignified.”

“I fear that the same thing that befell at Eccles will happen here and there’ll be skeletons on the beach. I’d be appalled by that.”

A Soldier's Resting Place in Jeopardy

Along the coast is situated the burial plot of a former paratrooper killed while working abroad. His mother said she lost sleep after discovering her child's final plot might one day be moved.

“It truly disturb me to think this may not remain his lasting resting place,” she said. “To our family it’s an important site to visit.”

In her view, 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 watch carefully, but an timely resolution needs to be made when a tipping point has been attained.”

Seeking Solutions and Clarity

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

Several families want more coastal protections to slow the unavoidable loss and to permit burials to proceed for now. Different voices contend the moment for relocation is drawing near.

“It is very emotive,” said one relative. “The official study was really good, but now there’s uncertainty about how it is taken forward. And everybody is washing their hands over who is accountable.”

A local official confirmed the burial sites were owned and managed of the local diocese. “In the end it is up to them to choose the path to take. We are here to help support them through that journey with communities.”

He added there was time to consider all the options. “We are talking decades before it begins getting lost.”

“There is no unified opinion on what should be done yet. It requires productive community discussions to find the right solutions for each community.”

The prospect of losing the historic sites was labeled one of “profound sadness for the local community,” but faith leaders also referenced a doctrine in life after death, offering a spiritual viewpoint on the physical loss of hallowed earth.