Grave in Norfolk of 119 sailors may be exhumed due to coastal erosion threat

Remains are threatened by the sea as the graveyard at St Mary’s church, Happisburgh, is expected to be destroyed by coastal erosion. Photograph: Joshua Bright/The Guardian

A mass grave for 119 sailors who drowned more than 200 years ago could be exhumed to avoid their remains being exposed by coastal erosion.

HMS Invincible sank off the Norfolk coast in 1801 on its way to join Horatio Nelson’s fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen. The recovered bodies of those who drowned were buried at St Mary’s church in Happisburgh, the nearest village to the shipwreck.