The Treaty of Wallingford, also known as the Treaty of Winchester or the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement reached in England in the summer of 1153. It effectively ended a civil war known as the Anarchy (1135–54), caused by a dispute over the English crown between King Stephen and his cousin Matilda. The Treaty of Wallingford allowed Stephen to keep the throne until his death (which was to come in October 1154), but ensured that he would be succeeded by Matilda's son Henry II.

Unbeknownst to many, Lindsey was once home to its very own castle which is believed to have been constructed sometime shortly after the death of Henry I in 1135.

“Henry I’s death in the 12th century precipitated a war of succession between his daughter and designed heir to the throne Matilda, and his nephew Stephen who saw himself as the rightful successor.”

The civil war – which lasted from 1135 and 1153 – saw Matilda take control of the South West and the Thames Valley area, while Stephen had strongholds in the South East. However, much of the rest of the country, including East Anglia, was held by rebels who refused to support either side.

As a result, much lawlessness broke out, and a number of castles were built across the region without royal approval.

Known as adulterine castles, Lindsey’s castle was one of these illicit formations (as were those at nearby Milden and Offton).

Historical records show it was built in typical Norman fashion – a motte-and-bailey castle, with a wooden or stone keep on a raised area of ground.

“It doesn’t exist anymore however – and all you have left are the old earthworks. This is because at the end of the war, as part of the treaty of 1153, such castles were ordered to be destroyed. It is thought Lindsey Castle was one of these – but there is evidence the castle continued to exist into the 13th century.”

An award of seisin of the manor (described as usual as Cockfield Manor) was in 1209 made to " Margaret de Kokefield " probably a mistake for Nesta on the ground that her father Adam had died seised. 3 Thomas de Burgh seems to have married his ward Nesta, and in the 3rd Hen. III. Rohais widow of Adam de Cokefield released to Thomas de Burgh and Nesta his wife her dower in the lands of her late husband in Cokefeld, Semere and Groton, other lands being assigned to her. Thomas de Burgh and Nesta his wife were benefactors to the priory of St. Anthony of Kersey,' which priory was founded probably by her ancestors abt. 1184, the " Parvum Monastenum de Kersey " being then accounted in the Liber de Consuetudinibus S. Edmundi as half a leet to the hundred of Cosford. It seems first to have been a hospital or free chapel but Nesta de Cokefield converted it into a Priory of Canons of the order of St. Austin. Nesta after the death of Thomas de Burgh, increased her gifts to the priory, bestowing upon it among other hereditaments the Churches of Kersey and Lellesley, the former of which was appropriated to the use of the canons by Thomas de Blunderville 7th Bp. of Norwich in 1227. The grant of Nesta de Coke- field specifies the messuage late the hospital and 30 acres of land adjoining and the tithes of the mills of Cockfield, Semere, Lelesey and Kersey to sus- tain the lights in the Church of St. Anthony. The portion added by Thomas de Burgh consisted of 3 acres. In the Mon. Angl. vol. i. 533 is an engraving of the seal of Nesta de Cokefeld attached to her grant to the priors ; the original is amongst the evidences of King's College Cambridge. It is an oval seal, representing a cock, and this inscription round it :