HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS
14. THE ABBEY OF SIBTON (fn. 1)
The Cistercian abbey of the Blessed Virgin of
Sibton was founded by William Cheney, sometimes called William Fitz Robert, and was
colonized by an abbot and twelve monks from
the abbey of Warden in Bedfordshire.
The advowson of the church of Westleton
was given to the abbey in 1272, (fn. 2) and it was appropriated in 1332. (fn. 3)
The taxation roll of 1291 shows that this
abbey held lands or rents in ten parishes of the
city of Norwich, and in twelve parishes of the
county of Norfolk, which brought in an income
of £29 7s. 5½d. There were also considerable
temporalities in upwards of twenty-five Suffolk
parishes, yielding £103 8s. 6½d. The spiritualities consisted of the rectory of Sibton with the
chapel of Peasenhall, and portions from four
other churches, producing £11 7s. 4d. The
total income of the abbey was thus £144 3s. 4d. (fn. 4)
The Valor of 1535 gave the clear annual
value as £250 15s. 7½d. The spiritualities,
which then produced £41 19s., consisted of the
rectories of Sibton-cum-Peasenhall, Westleton,
Rendham, and Tunstall, Norfolk, with a portion
from Cransford. (fn. 5) The churches of Tunstall and
Cransford had been appropriated in the reign of
Edward I, and were confirmed to the abbey by
his successor. (fn. 6)
In 1316 Robert Petit was sent by Edward II
to receive the allowance previously enjoyed by
William de Wendelesburgh. (fn. 7)
The abbot and convent, at the supplication of
Ralph, son of the Earl of Stafford, were licensed
in 1385 to acquire lands in mortmain not exceeding the yearly value of £10. (fn. 8)
The accounts of John de Merton, bursar of
the abbey from 1362 to 1372, yield various
interesting particulars. (fn. 9) For the first of these
years the total receipts amounted to £162 5s. 10d.
The visitor of the order for that year was the
abbot of Warden. The total expense of the
visitation was £4 7s. 3d. Bread, beer, wine,
fish, and horse-meat for the abbot and his train
to Bury St. Edmunds cost 13s. 8¾d.; from
thence to Eye, 23¼d.; from Eye to Woodbridge,
and returning to Ipswich, 20d.; and for tarrying
a night at Ipswich and returning, 12s. 6½d. The
remainder was spent on entertaining at the
abbey the abbot and his two monks, together
with his two squires and three servants.
The receipts for 1363-4 were £185 15s. 11d.,
and the expenses £183 10s. 1½d. The repairs
for this year to the monastic buildings are interesting; they included 3s. 4d. for 200 tiles for
mending the furnace of the bakehouse, 8s. for six
weeks' work in dressing and carving stones for
the monks' lavatory (cisterna), and 14s. 8d. for
seven lime trees for the new chamber of the
abbot. In the following year three windows of
the abbot's new lodging were glazed. The
receipts that year came to £204 4s. 11¾d., and
the expenses to £199 12s. 1d.
In 1365-6 the receipts rose to £241 12s. 1d.,
but the expenses increased to £262 1s. 11¼d.
The last year of these accounts, 1371-2, the
receipts were £204 16s. 5½d., and the outgoings
£213 10s. 10½d.
A detailed list of payments to the abbey
sacrists in 1369-70 shows that the full number
of the servants for this year was forty-four, and
the expenditure in money £23 14s. 11d.
The abbot of Warden filled the obligation imposed on him by the Cistercian statutes of visiting
the daughter house of Sibton year by year. The
average cost of this visit to the Suffolk abbey
was £3 10s. No Cistercian abbey was ever
visited by the diocesan, and there are therefore
only few references to Sibton in the Norwich
registers. But in 1426 a bull of Pope Martin
authorizing Robert Aldeby, abbot of Sibton, to
hold a benefice, was transcribed in the bishop's
register. (fn. 10)
Henry, abbot of Sibton, was summoned to
attend convocation in 1529. (fn. 11)
An undated memorandum among the State
Papers, but clearly of the year 1536, gives the
names of the religious of this house, namely,
William Flatbury, abbot; Robert Sabyn (alias
Bongay), prior; and six other monks. It is
noted that the vicar-general was to be asked to
commission some person to take the abbot's resignation, with capacity to change his habit, and
to take two benefices with cure without residence,
and a licence for the same from the chancellor.
The abbot was willing to purchase these privileges. Also for the monks, save Prior Sabyn and
another of the name of John Fawkon, all desired
'capacities,' and to take a benefice each with
cure. (fn. 12)
The value of this house being well over £200
a year, it would not have fallen for another two
years; but the recently-appointed abbot, William
Flatbury, had apparently been put in through the
influence of the Duke of Norfolk, and with the
connivance of Cromwell, on purpose to bring
about a speedy surrender. At all events the
abbot and convent sold their house and possessions to Thomas, duke of Norfolk, some time in
1536, and this action was confirmed by Act of
Parliament in 1539. (fn. 13) In the duke's annual
receipts for 1538 entry is made of 'Sipton £200,
whereof to the quondam (abbot) and other monks
£72.' (fn. 14) It therefore appears that all the monks
of this house obtained a pension.
The impression of the fourteenth-century
seal attached to a charter of 1406 shows the
Blessed Virgin under a pinnacled and crocketed
niche; on each side is a flowering branch, as
well as a star on one side and a crescent on the
other; in the base under an arch is a lion's face,
a possible allusion to the arms of the founder's
family. Legend:—
. . . COM . . . . . ET CONV . . . . . .
SIBETON . . . (fn. 15)
Abbots of Sibton
Constantine (fn. 16)
Laurence, c. 1200 (fn. 17)
Alexander de Walpole (fn. 18)
Ralph, occurs 1253 (fn. 19)
Richard, occurs 1269 (fn. 20)
Walter, occurs 1289 (fn. 21)
John, occurs 1303 (fn. 22)
Eustache, occurs 1313 (fn. 23)
Ralph, occurs 1334 (fn. 24)
Walter, appointed 1375 (fn. 25)
Robert Aldeby, occurs 1426 (fn. 26)
Henry, occurs 1529 (fn. 27)
William Flatbury, occurs 1536 (fn. 28)