Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery
Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Section 2, Plot 28, Earlham Cemetery, Earlham Road, Norwich, NR2 3RG
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1494005
- Date first listed:
- 11-Sept-2025
- List Entry Name:
- Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery
- Statutory Address:
- Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Section 2, Plot 28, Earlham Cemetery, Earlham Road, Norwich, NR2 3RG
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1494005
- Date first listed:
- 11-Sept-2025
- List Entry Name:
- Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Earlham Cemetery
- Statutory Address 1:
- Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Section 2, Plot 28, Earlham Cemetery, Earlham Road, Norwich, NR2 3RG
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Tomb of Frances and John Abel, Section 2, Plot 28, Earlham Cemetery, Earlham Road, Norwich, NR2 3RG
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Norfolk
- District:
- Norwich (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TG2122808757
Summary
A chest tomb with horse statue, dedicated to Frances Abel, who died in 1859, and later John Abel, who died in 1881, within Earlham Cemetery, Norwich.
Reasons for Designation
The tomb of Frances and John Abel at Earlham Cemetery, Norwich is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for the craftsmanship of the tomb chest and sculptural quality of the horse statue;
Historic interest:
* for its commemoration of John Abel, a well-known publican and horse dealer in C19 Norwich;
* as an unusual example of Victorian funerary sculpture
Group value:
* for its strong functional and aesthetic relationship with the Grade II registered Park and Garden of Norwich City (Earlham Road) Cemetery.
History
Earlham Cemetery was established in 1856 following the discovery of the link between Norwich’s overflowing city churchyards and the outbreak of diseases. The churchyards were closed and replaced by the new cemetery on a thirty-five-acre site between the Dereham and the Earlham Roads.
John (‘Jack’) Abel (1803-1883) was a well-known horse-dealer and publican in Norwich, mentioned in local newspapers throughout the C19. John married Frances (‘Fanny’) Payne (died 1859), his first wife, in 1830, and they had three children. The horse statue may be compared with the tomb of 1854 for Alfred Cooke, horse breeder, in Kensal Green Cemetery, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (National Heritage List for England entry 1389167).
The tomb was executed by Amos Hibbett for the interment of Frances Abel in 1859.
Details
A chest tomb with horse statue dedicated to Frances Abel (d 1859). Executed by Amos Hibbett, monumental mason, with later inscription for John Abel (d 1881).
MATERIALS: stone.
PLAN: rectangular, orientated east to west.
DESCRIPTION: classical chest with moulded plinth, raised panels at the corners, inset inscription panels on the north and south sides, thick stone slab and sculpture of a horse on a carved base, bowing its head and stepping forward with fore leg raised, beside a carved ivy-clad tree trunk with carved acorn hanging from a branch.
On the south side, the inscription 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 reads:
“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”
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 5 November 2025 to correct a spelling error in the description.
Sources
Websites
Recording Archive for Public Sculpture in Norfolk & Suffolk, accessed 15 May 2025 from http://www.racns.co.uk/sculptures.asp?action=getsurvey&id=944
Findagrave.com, accessed 15 May 2025 from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/251017536/john-abel
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 14-Dec-2025 at 12:01:41.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2025. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2025. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry