HAPPISBURGH — North Norfolk District Council agreed to conduct a ground-penetrating radar survey of the St Mary's churchyard in Happisburgh to locate a mass grave from the 1801 sinking of HMS Invincible. The survey is scheduled for later this summer and follows a formal request from The 1805 Club.
The churchyard is projected to be lost to coastal erosion in the coming decades. The radar survey aims to pinpoint the exact location of the mass grave for a potential exhumation. A report to the council warned that coastal erosion could expose human remains at the site.
The 1805 Club is seeking permission to exhume the sailors' remains for possible reburial at sea with the Royal Navy. John Rodgaard, charity chair, said: "After reviewing the options presented, we reached a consensus that the remains should be disinterred, but not reburied at an inland location. Instead, we feel the remains should be committed to the North Sea, and as near as possible to the wreck of HMS Invincible." He added: "We realise that burial at sea would, in all likelihood, involve the Royal Navy."
Ray Aldis, a historian, said: "This grave is unique, and there's nothing quite on that scale anywhere else I am aware of." He added: "It will have to be done. I can't see that it being acceptable for it just to fall into the sea." Robert Smith, archaeological society secretary, said: "The aim will be to facilitate an accurate exhumation of the mass grave. The final resting place for the contents has not yet been decided."
North Norfolk District Council is working with the local church and the diocese to commission the radar survey. Funds for the survey will come from a government coastal transition accelerator programme. HMS Invincible sank off the Norfolk coast while traveling to join Horatio Nelson's fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen. Of the 590 crew members aboard, 190 survived. The vessel's pilot ignored warnings about shallow sand ridges off the Norfolk coast prior to the wreck. The bodies recovered from the wreck were transported by cart to the church for burial, and 119 sailors who drowned were interred at St Mary's church. A memorial stone with a biblical inscription was installed in 1998 to mark the mass grave, which had previously been unmarked.