"Silcester" was recorded in the 11th century, when one Alestan held a manor here with King Edward the Confessor as his overlord and one Cheping held another manor with Earl Harold Godwinson as his overlord. The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded that the Normans William De Ow and Ralph de Mortimer possessed Alestan's and Cheping's manors respectively. The book assessed Alestan's manor at five hides and Mortimer's at three hides. De Mortimer's tenant was another Norman, Ralph Bluet. In 1204 he or a later Ralph Bluet gave a palfrey horse in exchange for a licence to enclose an area of land south-east of the former Roman town as a deer park. Today parts of the earthwork park pale survive and parts of the former park remain wooded.