The Domesday book is the census ordered by King William the Conquerer after he took over England in 1066. The book was finished in 1096 and contains the details of the land William won. It was written in Latin in shorthand, making it difficult to translate into English. One can search for areas by place in a database at http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/
Looking up 'Kingsley' provided some interesting details about the area. First, and foremost Kingsley existed in 1086, decades before Ranulph was granted the land there. Here is the entry in it's database form:
Place: Kingsley
Hundred: Ruloe
County: Cheshire
Total population: 9 households (quite small)
Total tax assessed: 1 geld unit (very small)
Value to lord in 1066: 1.5
Value to lord in 1086: 0.3
Households: 1 villager. 3 smallholders. 5 slaves.
Ploughland: 2 ploughlands (that is 60 acres each) 1 lord's plough team
Other resources: woodland 1 x 1 league, 1.5 fishery
Lord in 1066: Dunning (owned 34 properties)
Lord in 1086: Dunning (now owned only 3 properties, noted for having kept this estate when most estates were taken by the Normans. See Ormerod p. 3)
Tenant-in-chief in 1086: Earl Hugh of Chester (he is the first Earl of Chester, died in 1101.)
Note that this entry shows that the Earl of Chester had been granted this land, but that he allowed the former lord Dunning to remain on the land. This land would stay with the Earl of Chester as that title passed from Hugh to his son Richard, then to Randle, who gave the land to Ranulph de Kingsley. See 'Wikipedia: Earl of Chester'
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