[4] In the early 1870s, Monk Soham was described as a parish, with a village, in Hoxne district, Suffolk; four and a quarter miles WNW of Framlingham r. station.

The monks belonged to the abbey at Bury, and were given the land in the late 10th century by Alfed, Bishop of East Anglia.

The lake no longer exists, however, it is believed to have reclined north of the back road which now runs from Earl Soham towards Ashfield-cum-Thorpe.

Domesday Book also states Monk Soham had fifteen acres of meadow and woodland for thirty pigs and eighty-one goats in the 11th century; this suggests that the rural town was focused on farming and agriculture and carried on this sector of work for many centuries, and in 1868 the parish was recorded as "wholly agricultural".

County records describe the village as consisting mainly of meadow with the farming of dairy cows, pigs, horses and poultry as well as growing a variety of crops.

[14] Claude Morley, the English antiquary and entomologist who specialised in Hymenoptera[15] and Diptera,[16] lived in Monk Soham House from 1904 until his death in 1951.

It is clear that the monks used to take part in the recreational sport of fishing as the fishponds they used can still be identified[17] today although most have dried up.

In the 2011 Census this figure had dropped to 0% and the most popular occupations with 24% of the people are the managers, directors and senior officials' jobs.

[23] St Peter's Church has a notable Seven Sacrament font,[24] which is one of thirteen in Suffolk and one of forty in the UK, which is finely detailed.

The panel facing east is for the Mass, and then; Baptism (NE), Ordination (N), Confirmation (NW), Last Rites (W), Matrimony (SW), Crucifixion (S) and Confession (SE).

[26] Archdeacon Robert Groome was the rector of Monk Soham for forty-four years from 1845, and spent £850 in 1860 on restoring St Peter's after the structure was in such bad condition.

[27] In 1904 the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway opened stations two miles away (3 km) at Kenton and Worlingworth, for goods traffic, and extended the service to passengers in 1908, which gave the villagers of Monk Soham a chance to travel.

It is an example of the greens and commons that are very typical of the claylands of High Suffolk, however, many of these have become lost or fragmented to intensive agriculture or urban-style development.

The grassland and adjacent woodland has high wildlife value from barn owls, to butterfly to grass snakes and swallows.