Sibton Abbey, an early Cistercian abbey located near Yoxford, Suffolk, [1] [2] was founded about 1150 by William de Chesney, High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. [3] [4] A sister house of Warden Abbey, near Bedford, Bedfordshire, Sibton Abbey was the only Cistercian abbey in East Anglia. It was dissolved in 1536.
A medieval narrative of the abbey's foundation told, that Walter de Cadomo (i.e. Walter de Caen) [5] came to England in the time of the Conqueror with Robert Malet, Lord of the Honour of Eye and High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, and Walter held the Barony of Horsford (not really a barony but a large group of landholdings centred upon Horsford Castle in Norfolk [6] ) from him as from the Honour of Eye. Walter's son and heir Robert fitz Walter (who married Sybil de Caisneto) founded the church of St Peter at Sibton in the time of William Rufus, and had three sons, Roger, John and William, of whom Roger and John had no offspring. [7]
When Robert (who in 1105 also founded the Benedictine priory of Horsham St Faith nearby [8] [9] ) died, his son John, afterwards called John vicecomes (i.e., the Sheriff), inherited the Barony of Horsford. After some time, when he was stricken with a grave illness, he bethought himself to construct a Cistercian abbey in atonement for his many evil deeds both in times of peace and war. Knowing that he could not live long, he made his brother and heir William (William de Chesney, or William de Cayneto) promise to perform what he had vowed, to complete and construct the Cistercian abbey. Then after John died, William held the barony, and after some time ruled the county as William vicecomes. He, mindful of the welfare of his brother's soul, fulfilled his promise and founded the abbey of St Mary of Sibton, granting his lands at Sibton and his charter of confirmation dated 1149. [10]
Sibton Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded with the normal complement of 13 monks, [11] but by the thirteenth century the numbers of monks and lay brothers had grown, and the Abbey had grown rich, owning lands across southeast England, including twelve relatively small granges in Norfolk, Suffolk and on the borders of Cambridgeshire, as well as possessions within 10 parishes of the city of Norwich. [12] [13] From the beginning of the thirteenth century the Abbey also hosted a hospital at its gate dedicated to St. John the Baptist which cared for the sick. [14]
Sibton's architectural style was in the austere Cistercian original model, but was not devoid of ornamentation. [15] The principal standing ruins are those of the Frater or Refectory hall of the convent, and are from the mid-12th-century phase of construction, in the late Norman or Romanesque style. The convent church, which had a central crossing, stood on the north side of the cloister, and on the east side (extending south from the south transept) was the range including the dormitory with its undercroft.
Sibton is unusual among Cistercian houses in that the Frater (the standing ruin) formed most of the south range, aligned east and west, with the screens passage and kitchens at its western end and the dais for the high table at the east, where the great blank arch still remains in the end wall. (The Frater should normally extend at right-angles to the south range.) On the west side of the cloister was a wall separating it from an open area or lane, beyond which the western range (the Cellarium) stood. This was possibly the domain of the lay brethren, separate from the enclosed brethren in holy orders, who together made up the conventual community. [16]
Sibton grew rich on proceeds from various forms of husbandry, [17] and from the wool trade which built so many grand English churches. Although Suffolk wool was not of the finest quality, according to some historians, often stained with tar or grease, it was nevertheless in great demand, particularly in East Anglia, which had many Flemish weavers anxious to convert it into exportable cloth. The abbey's various mills, of which there were at least 15 on their outlying Suffolk estates during the 13th century, both watermills and windmills, were maintained to mill grain on economic principles quite unlike those of later periods. [18]
The 14th-century bibliographer Henry of Kirkestede, of Bury St Edmunds, saw a copy of the Chronicon of Ralph of Coggeshall from Sibton. [19] A 15th-century navicula de Venetiis (a type of portable sundial) found near the Abbey in 1989 is now in the National Maritime Museum. [20]
At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when it is noted that Thomas Fiennes, 9th Baron Dacre (then aged about 20) was patron as heir to William de Chesney, Sibton Abbey's annual income was £250. [21] [22] This substantial sum ought to have allowed the Abbey an additional couple of years before it was dissolved. But the recently appointed Abbot William Flatbury, installed at the insistence of the Duke of Norfolk, apparently was prevailed upon by the Duke and by Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, to hasten the Dissolution, and yield the jewel to those in Royal favour. The engineering of Flatbury's appointment, according to a contemporaneous observer, had been done with the "connivance of Cromwell on purpose to bring about a speedy surrender." [23]
In 1536 the Abbey with all its appurtenances was transferred by deed by the abbot and brethren to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and to Anthony Rous his marshal and Nicholas Hare. [24] [25] The Duke subsequently sold the Abbey again to Thomas Godsalve, who in turn sold it to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk.
In 1610 the Abbey and Manor were sold to John Scrivener, son of Ralph Scrivener, an Ipswich barrister grown rich in the wool trade, and the family built an estate nearby. John Scrivener's brother Matthew was an early Governor of the Virginia Colony, where he drowned in 1609. John Scrivener's sister Elizabeth was married to Harbottle Wingfield of Crowfield Hall, Suffolk, cousin of Edward Maria Wingfield, the first President of the Jamestown Colony. John Scrivener's son, Thomas Scrivener Esq., married Mary Bedingfield, only daughter and heir of William Bedingfield, of Fressingfield, Suffolk and a relation of Sir Henry Bedingfield. [26]
The two conspicuous rows of joist holes cut into the great archway of the eastern refectory wall are intended to support an upper floor or gallery, probably inserted after the suppression when the building was converted to secular uses.
Sibton Abbey is considered a picturesque ruin, largely overgrown, with the refectory and the south wall of the nave still visible. Major repairs were made under the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in 2019. [27] These repairs were carried out by the local architect, Tim Buxbaum [28] The Abbey and the Manor remain in the hands of the Scrivener heirs, today's Levett-Scrivener family, and the ruins are private. [29] Many of the cartularies of the old Abbey were transferred to the East Suffolk Record Office [30] [31] by J.E. Levett-Scrivener Esq., who also transferred some of the Abbey's early medieval music. [32]
The Levett-Scrivener family have sometimes made the ruins available to county historical societies and historians. [33] The Abbey ruins are a scheduled monument. [34] The site is not open to the public.
The Bishop of Norwich is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The bishop of Norwich is Graham Usher.
Vaudey Abbey, also known as Vandy Abbey or Vandey Abbey, was an English Cistercian abbey. It was founded in 1147 by William, Count of Aumale, Earl of York. Its site is within the Grimsthorpe Castle park, in Lincolnshire, 3.7 miles (6 km) northwest of Bourne on the A151, but there are no remains of the Abbey aside from earthworks.
Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule, dedicated to St Mary. Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville, Chief Justiciar to King Henry II (1180-1189), it was originally built on a marshland isle near the sea, and was called "St Mary de Insula". Around 1363 the abbey suffered so much from flooding that a new site was chosen and it was rebuilt further inland for its patron, Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk (1298-1369). However, there was a great fire in c. 1379 and further rebuilding was necessary.
Kingswood Abbey was a Cistercian abbey, located in the village of Kingswood near Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England. The abbey was demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and all that remains is the gatehouse, a Grade 1 listed building. Through the gatehouse arch are a few houses and the small village primary school of Kingswood.
Matthew Scrivener was an English colonist in Virginia. He served briefly as acting governor of Jamestown, but drowned while attempting to cross to nearby Hog Island in a storm in 1609. Eight other colonists were also drowned, half of them members of the governing Council, including Bartholomew Gosnold's brother Anthony. Scrivener was succeeded by Captain John Smith.
Milford Hall is a privately owned 18th-century English country house at Milford, near Stafford. It is the family seat of the Levett Haszard family and is a Grade II listed building.
Levett is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin, deriving from [de] Livet, which is held particularly by families and individuals resident in England and British Commonwealth territories.
Wardon or Warden Abbey, Bedfordshire, was one of the senior Cistercian houses of England, founded about 1135 from Rievaulx Abbey. It is a Grade I listed building.
Pontefract Priory was a Cluniac monastery dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, founded about 1090 by Robert de Lacy, 2nd Baron of Pontefract, and located in Yorkshire, England. It existed until the dissolution of the monasteries. The Church and buildings have been completely destroyed, but the site is still indicated by the name of Monk-hill.
Langdon Abbey was a Premonstratensian abbey near West Langdon, Kent, founded in about 1192 and dissolved in 1535, reportedly the first religious house to be dissolved by Henry VIII. The visible remains of the abbey are now confined to the extensive cellaring below the 16th-century house that occupies its site and small remains of a 17th-century ice house.
Captain Egerton Bagot Byrd Levett-Scrivener (1857–1954) was a Royal Navy Flag Lieutenant and aide to Vice Admiral George Willes in the Far East. He was later promoted to Captain, and following his retirement became Bursar of Keble College, University of Oxford. Born Egerton Levett, he changed his name to Levett-Scrivener on an inheritance from his aunt of Scrivener family properties at Sibton Abbey, Suffolk, which he later managed. Levett was married to the daughter of English diplomat and ambassador Sir Harry Smith Parkes.
Stogursey Priory, also called Stoke Courcy Priory or The Priory of St Andrew de Stoke, was a Benedictine alien priory dedicated to St Andrew at Stogursey in Somerset, England. It was founded by William de Falaise, around 1100, to become a cell of Lonlay-l'Abbaye in Normandy. In around 1185 John de Courcy, its hereditary patron, founded the Priory of the Ards (Blackabbey) in County Down, Ireland, making an endowment of that estate to Stogursey Priory. The priory church survives as the parish church, and contains some of the original Norman architecture. Many of the priory's muniments are held in the archives of Eton College, which King Henry VI endowed with the appurtenances when the house was dissolved in about 1440.
Blythburgh Priory was a medieval monastic house of Augustinian canons, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in the village of Blythburgh in Suffolk, England. Founded in the early 12th century, it was among the first Augustinian houses in England and began as a cell of St Osyth's Priory in Essex. Although it acquired a conventual life of its own, its community was always small and in some respects maintained dependency upon the parent house. It was earmarked for closure by Cardinal Wolsey during the late 1520s but survived his fall and continued until dissolution in 1536.
Butley Priory, sometimes called Butley Abbey, was a religious house of Canons regular in Butley, Suffolk, dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary. It was founded in 1171 by Ranulf de Glanville, Chief Justiciar to King Henry II (1180-1189), and was the sister foundation to Ranulf's house of White canons (Premonstratensians) at Leiston Abbey, a few miles to the north, founded c. 1183. Butley Priory was suppressed in 1538.
Bungay Priory was a Benedictine nunnery in the town of Bungay in the English county of Suffolk. It was founded c. 1160-1185 by the Countess Gundreda, wife or widow of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, upon lands of her maritagium and was confirmed to her and her second husband Roger de Glanville by King Henry II. It was dissolved in about 1536. At the time of the suppression it consisted of a prioress and 11 nuns. The priory church, the Church of the Holy Cross, became the Church of St Mary, the parish church in Bungay. Although ruins of the priory remain to the east of the church, any remaining intact buildings are likely to have been destroyed in the Bungay fire of 1688 which severely damaged the church itself. The church and the ruins of the priory are a Grade I listed building.
Campsey Priory,, was a religious house of Augustinian canonesses at Campsea Ashe, Suffolk, about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) south east of Wickham Market. It was founded shortly before 1195 on behalf of two of his sisters by Theobald de Valoines, who, with his wife Avice, had previously founded Hickling Priory in Norfolk for male canons in 1185. Both houses were suppressed in 1536.
William de Chesney was a medieval Anglo-Norman nobleman and sheriff. The son of a landholder in Norfolk, William inherited after the death of his two elder brothers. He was the founder of Sibton Abbey, as well as a benefactor of other monasteries in England. In 1157, Chesney acquired the honour of Blythburgh, and was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk during the 1150s and 1160s. On Chesney's death in 1174, he left three unmarried daughters as his heirs.
Robert fitzRoger was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and Northumberland. He was a son of Roger fitzRichard and Adelisa de Vere. FitzRoger owed some of his early offices to William Longchamp, but continued in royal service even after the fall of Longchamp. His marriage to an heiress brought him more lands, which were extensive enough for him to be ranked as a baron. FitzRoger founded Langley Abbey in Norfolk in 1195.
de Valognes is a family name of two distinct powerful families with notable descendants in the centuries immediately following the Norman Conquest. Although a connection between them has been inferred by some authorities, this is not supported by positive evidence.
52°16′32″N1°27′56″E / 52.2756°N 1.4656°E
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