Kenilworth is evidently the worth or dwelling of Kenelm; though who Kenelm was, or when he lived, are matters unrecorded. He was certainly a considerable person, both because he gave name to his estate and because his dwelling-place was evidently extensive and strong. It appears from Domesday that Kenilworth was a member of the royal manor of Stanlei or Stoneleigh, held as ancient demesne, the tenant doing suit and service upon the mote known as Motstow Hill. This mote, one of the most interesting English remains in the midland counties, stands, as it did at Domesday, and probably for several preceding centuries, upon a ridge of rock which forms the left bank of the Sow, opposite to the curious old Norman church of Stoneleigh. Some excavations upon its flanks have somewhat injured its integrity; but it is still a very marked feature in the valley, and one of the very few mote hills in the midland counties. A steep hollow way leads up to it from the river. The register of Stoneleigh Abbey mentions a castle in the manor, which was destroyed by the Danes in the wars between King Edmund and Canute, and which stood at a place called Holm Hill, on the Avon, in the woods opposite to the site of the late Abbey of Stoneleigh. As the destruction probably relates only to the timber superstructure, it is not unlikely that the mound or burh remains. Unfortunately, Holm Hill, as the ground thereabouts is still called, is in one of the Stoneleigh preserves, and therefore, not unreasonably, closed against strangers. Kenilworth at Domesday was in two parts: Opton or Upton, containing three hides, held direct of the king by Albertus Clericus, in pure alms; and Chineworde, held by Ricardus Forestarius. Opton is upper-town or high-town, the rising ground to the north of the present church; Chineworth is Kenilworth proper. Dugdale mentions a Richard Chineu as the same with Ricardus Forestarius, and cites the “Testa de Nevill”; but the name does not appear in the index to the printed volume of that record. Chineworth may be an accidental coincidence, or it may be a corruption of Kenilworth.