Sibton Abbey, an early Cistercian abbey located near Yoxford, Suffolk, was founded about 1150 by William de Chesney, High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. A sister house of Warden Abbey, near Bedford, Bedfordshire, Sibton Abbey was the only Cistercian abbey in East Anglia. It was dissolved in 1536. The foundation legend A medieval narrative of the abbey's foundation told, that Walter de Cadomo (i.e. Walter de Caen) 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) 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. When Robert (who in 1105 also founded the Benedictine priory of Horsham St Faith nearby) 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. The medieval abbey Sibton Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded with the normal complement of 13 monks, 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. From the beginning of the thirteenth century the Abbey also hosted a hospital at its