Sibton, originally known as “Sibba’s tun” (homestead) has a history going back at least 2000 years and implements found in its sister village of Peasenhall indicate a settlement in the area dating from the Bronze age.   Little is known about the settlement until 885 when the villages were invaded by a “great heathen force” of Vikings who arrived in East Anglia to re-colonize the area. At the conquest, King William gave the manor of Sibton, with its population of 51, to Sir William Malet who governed his wide lands from his castle in Eye. 

St. Peter’s Church at Sibton was erected in the reign of William Rufus by Robert de Cadamo.  In 1150 the small Cistercian Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in Sibton by William de Chesney in fulfilment of a vow to his dying brother in atonement for his sins as Sheriff of Suffolk and at War. 
With the passage of time the Abbey’s size and influence increased considerably as it acquired more and more land extending as far afield as Walpole, Rendham, Heveningham and Kelsale.   In 1264 the Abbot founded and built the mediaeval Hospital of Sibton adjacent to the Abbey gate and on the south side of the River Yox.  During this period there was a need for accommodation for visitors and passing travellers and in 1464 the triangle of land known as “The Knoll” in Peasenhall  was conveyed to John Kemp.  By 1478 the New Inn (later called the Wool Hall) was completed to meet this need.  

The Abbey’s final demise came some two hundred years later in 1536 when the then Lord Abbot, William Fladbury, and the monks sold the site and all the estates to the Duke of Norfolk, and it was only in 1610 that the site was conveyed to a private landowner.

With the loss of the Abbey the village of Sibton declined.  Its great church, St. Peter’s, lost most of its treasures during the civil war and the Abbey itself fell into ruin with many of its stones being used for local building and also to repair St. Peter’s church whenever it became necessary.  Recent efforts of a dedicated band of local people, together with partial funding from English Heritage, has led to the restoration of St. Peters Church which has recently changed from being a chapel of rest to a full parish church once again.   It is still very much the centre of the village and hosts many concerts and other similar events. There is no public access to the remains of the Abbey.

A handy map of local footpath walks produced by the Parish Council is available free of charge from local outlets.