 Domesday Book of 1086 records the town as Middleton "Terra" Regis (Royal lands) the Kings town of Kent.Noting it as a town and a port of wealth, whereby William the Conqueror, took it into his "personal possession" and gave it into the hands of his half brother Odo for safe keeping, and also appointed a "portreeve", Hugh de Port, to preside over the town.Later he was to become the "shirereeve" or Sheriff of Kent.