Description

BRIGHTON

TQ3004SE DYKE ROAD
577-1/39/1169 (East side)
Monument to Phoebe Hessell in
churchyard of the Church of St
Nicholas of Myra

GV II

Includes: Monument to Phoebe Hessell in churchyard of Church
of St Nicholas CHURCH STREET.
Headstone and footstone to Phoebe Hessell. c1821. Stone. 13m
south of the door of the south chapel. In 1728 Phoebe Smith
fell in love with William Golding, a soldier. She enlisted in
the Fifth Foot Regiment to remain with him, and spent 17 years
in the army disguised as a man. After Golding's death, Phoebe
moved to Brighton and married William Hessell in about 1769;
he died in 1792 and she spent much of the rest of her life,
until the age of 108, hawking fish, gingerbread and suchlike
in the streets of Brighton. Recent research casts doubt on her
story but the Northumberland Fusiliers believed it enough to
restore the grave in the 1970s.

Listing NGR: TQ3077104488

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26660594

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)