When this manor was separated from the crown does not appear; but in the reign of Stephen it was the demesne of Alice or Adelias de Cundi, who resided at her castle here, which leaves it to be concluded that she held it by inheritance from her father. {7b} As she took part against the king in his contention with the Empress Maud, he seized her lands, but restored them again on condition that she should demolish her castle, the means which had served to render her political alliance formidable to his interest. {7c} What may have been the extent and nature of the structure possessed as the mansion of Adelias is not now discoverable, no traces being to be found; but its strength most probably consisted in a restoration of the walls of the Roman fortress, which encircling some convenient and less durable edifice, gave to the place of her residence the security of a castle. The restitution, by Stephen, of these lands to Adelias de Cundi, seems to have been only for life, as her heir did not succeed thereto; for this manor came again to the crown, and was afterwards given by Henry the second to Gerbald le Escald, a Fleming, who held it for one knight’s fee. {8a} Gerbald le Escald, was succeeded by his grandson and heir Gerrard de Rhodes; but for a short time after his death, Ranulph Earl of Chester appears to have held it, probably in trust for Gerrard de Rhodes, during his minority. Gerrard was succeeded by his son and heir Ralph de Rhodes, who in the reign of Henry the third, sold this manor to Walter Mauclerke, the third Bishop of Carlisle, who also held the office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. In conformity with the spirit of the times in which this sale was effected, the bishop and his successors were to hold the estate by the performance of suit and service to Ralph de Rhodes and his heirs. In the fourteenth year of the same reign, the transfer to Walter Mauclerke was confirmed by the king, who in the same year also granted to him three several charters, conferring those immunities upon the manor and soke, which served to raise the town of Horncastle from the dependence of a village, to become in some degree the mart of the surrounding country.