Erosion threat to more N Norfolk church graves

North Norfolk district council has identified three church graveyards in the villages of Happisburgh, Trimingham, and Mundesley, which are at being at risk of being engulfed by the sea in the coming decades.

Following revelations during the summer that the churchyard adjoining the church of St Mary the Virgin in Happisburgh was threatened by coastal erosion, it has emerged that two other churchyards in North Norfolk are also under threat.
 
The Environment Agency had predicted that by 2055, the Happisburgh church would be at considerable risk of erosion and will probably be lost altogether by 2105. However, a subsequent report by North Norfolk District Council, published in August, said that significant storms could advance that timeline. Its current options for Happisburgh, and graveyards at Trimingham and Mundesley, include ceasing to use the churchyards for burials, and exhuming and relocating graves.
 
The report went on to explain that the construction of sea defences was not "technically, environmentally or economically feasible", which is a disappointment for those bereaved families with relatives buried in those graveyards.
 
One option is to exhume remains, some of which date back over 100 years, and rebury them in safer locations. The council and the Church of England say it is for local people to decide how to proceed. However, a lack of consensus over when and how to tackle the problem has left bereaved families frustrated and anxious.
 
Both the council and the Diocese of Norwich, which is responsible for the graveyards, say it is up to local people to decide what action to take, and they are encouraging villagers to discuss the matter. The cost of exhuming possibly thousands of remains would be costly and could, it is speculated, run into millions of pounds.
 
Read our previous story on this issue.

The photo of Happisburgh Church is courtesy of Simon Knott at norfolkchurches.co.uk

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