In 1878, after an earlier assault on the town in 1841, the British captured Sibi and renamed it Sandemanabad, for Robert Sandeman. The most imposing of the extant buildings from the British era is the 1903 Queen Victoria Memorial Hall, now named Jirga Hall. It is so named because it was the assembly chamber for the British and the leading tribal notables during the annual jirga (council of tribal elders) held during the Sibi Mela.
It now houses the small archaeological and historical Sibi Museum.
