[3] It has the tallest Saxon arches of its time in Britain,[4] the earliest known example of Viking graffiti in England (a rough scratching of an oared Viking sailing ship, probably dating from the 10th century), an Early English font standing on nine supports with pagan symbols around its base and an early wall painting dedicated to St Thomas Becket.

[5] The bishop's seat at Sidnacester (Syddensis) has been placed, by various commentators, at Caistor, Louth, Horncastle and, most often, at Stow, all in present-day Lincolnshire, England,[6] but the location remains unknown.

[8][1] The building remained in ruins until an abbey was built in 1040, reputedly by bishop Eadnoth II.

The memory of this period gave rise to the tradition that Stow is the Mother Church of Lincoln Cathedral.

It is said to have been re-founded and re-endowed in 1054 by Leofric and Godiva encouraged by Wulfwig as a minster of secular canons with the bishop at its head.