Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery is a Grade II listed building in the Norwich local planning authority area, England. Tomb.
Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery
- WRENN ID
- knotted-landing-kestrel
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Norwich
- Constituency
- Norwich South MP: Clive Lewis (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Type
- Tomb
- Address
- Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery, Section 2, Plot 28, Earlham Road, NR2 3RG
- OS grid reference
- TG 212 087
- Coordinates
- 52.63148, 1.26767
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Tomb of Frances and John Abel, located in Earlham Cemetery, is a chest tomb featuring a horse statue dedicated to Frances Abel, who died in 1859. The tomb was crafted by Amos Hibbett, a monumental mason, and includes a later inscription for John Abel, who died in 1881.
Constructed from stone, the tomb has a rectangular shape oriented east to west. It is designed in a classical style with a moulded plinth, raised panels at the corners, and inset inscription panels on the north and south sides. The tomb is topped with a thick stone slab and a sculpture of a horse, which is depicted bowing its head and stepping forward with its foreleg raised. This horse is positioned beside a carved tree trunk covered in ivy, from which a carved acorn hangs.
The inscription on the south side reads: “SACRED/TO THE MEMORY OF/FRANCES/THE WIFE OF/ JOHN ABEL/ WHO DIED 11TH MARCH 1859, AGED 55 YEARS.” On the north side, the inscription states: “IN LOVING MEMORY OF/JOHN ABEL/ WHO DIED 5TH OCTOBER 1883/ AGED 80 YEARS/LET ALL THE WORLD BE SILENT FOR GOD ALONE IS JUDGE.”
Local climate
Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 88% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 75% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Abel Monument About 2 Yards West of the South Porch of the Church of St Mary
- 2 Abel Monument in the Churchyard Approximately 1 Metre West of North Aisle to Church of St Leonard
- 3 Tomb of Alfred Cooke
- 4 Monument to George Abell South of West End of St Leonards Church
- 5 Horsefield Table Tomb in Churchyard of Church of St Mary
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Nearby listed buildings
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