Monument to Phoebe Hessell in Churchyard of Church of St Nicholas is a Grade II listed building in the Brighton and Hove local planning authority area, England. First listed on 26 August 1999. Monument.

Monument to Phoebe Hessell in Churchyard of Church of St Nicholas

WRENN ID
brooding-foundation-moth
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Brighton and Hove
Constituency
Brighton Pavilion MP: Siân Berry (Green)
Country
England
Date first listed
26 August 1999
Type
Monument
Address
Monument to Phoebe Hessell in Churchyard of Church of St Nicholas, Dyke Street, the City of Brighton and Hove
OS grid reference
TQ 307 044
Coordinates
50.82517, -0.14466
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The monument to Phoebe Hessell is located in the churchyard of the Church of St Nicholas of Myra on Dyke Road in Brighton. This headstone and footstone, dating from around 1821, is made of stone and is situated 13 meters south of the door of the south chapel. Phoebe Smith, who later became known as Phoebe Hessell, fell in love with a soldier named William Golding in 1728. To stay with him, she enlisted in the Fifth Foot Regiment and spent 17 years serving in the army disguised as a man. After Golding's death, she moved to Brighton and married William Hessell around 1769. Following his death in 1792, she spent much of her life, living to the age of 108, selling fish, gingerbread, and other goods in the streets of Brighton. Although recent research has raised questions about her story, the Northumberland Fusiliers found it compelling enough to restore her grave in the 1970s.

Local climate

Monument to Phoebe Hessell in Churchyard of Church of St Nicholas receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 56% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 15 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 85% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 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.

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