Before the Norman conquest Allestree was a hamlet consisting of a few scattered dwellings that was part of the holding of the Earl of Northumbria. Later it was recorded in the Domesday book of 1086 as Adelardestreu, an outlier of the Manor of Markeaton held by Hugh, Earl of Chester. It was given by William the Conqueror to Henry de Ferrers as a reward for his work in the Norman Conquest and later it passed to the Touchet family of Markeaton.